


Demon with a good heart

by MCDragon007



Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Angst, Conflict, Demons, Drama, Fantasy, Fluff, Friendship, Gen, Magic, Margeant Au, Non-Linear Narrative, Romance, Science Fiction & Fantasy, Some Humor, Twins, Violence, m/m - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-26
Updated: 2020-07-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 20:08:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 8
Words: 39,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24392551
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MCDragon007/pseuds/MCDragon007
Summary: Everyone knows that demons are the personification of evil and darkness. Then what will you answer if you are asked: "Can a demon be good?". Of course you answer that this can not be. You don’t even think about it and immediately give an answer. So... there are demons who have a good heart. This story is about one of them. And he himself does not know why this happened... or because of the past, or because of the present...
Relationships: Ink/Dream, Nightmare/Error, Nightmare/Killer, Reaper/Geno
Comments: 6
Kudos: 18





	1. The past of two brothers

**Author's Note:**

> This is a translation in English of my work by me.  
> Multiverse: Margeant Au.  
> The idea came out from a fragment of dream. In fan fiction you will see an episode that was in a dream, and by which I decided to write this fan fiction.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A fragment from the Nightmare's and Dream's childhood.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: fierce violence over Dream

**It happened a long time ago. On a hill around the forest, a _Tree_ grew. But it was not an ordinary tree, it was a Tree of Senses. A village was formed near it. The villagers worshiped the tree and thanked for the gifts - golden apples that give happiness. The tree had the only guardian - and it was the Creator. But soon it became difficult for her to protect the Tree from evil entities and selfish people. So she created from the cores of black and golden apples the souls of two creatures that were to become new guardians. She named her children: Nightmare and Dream. And since they came to this world to protect the precious fruits of the tree, the Creator fell into a dream in the trunk of the Tree...**

This story has been around for many years. Somewhere in a forest on a hill an unusual tree grew. For a long time this tree was called the Tree of Senses. People and creatures from all over the country began to hear about the wonderful fruits of that tree, and soon a whole village formed near it. What were its fruits, that people went to create a village? There was a simple answer to this question: the fact was that the golden apples of the Tree gave happiness. And why then do we clarify that they were 'golden'? This is because not only golden, but also black fruits grew on the Tree. Black apples had a completely different effect, they brought unhappiness. Is that all? So it was easy to pick up all the golden fruits? No. The tree had two guardians... they looked like children, but had tremendous power to protect apples from bad hands. Two little defenders...

"Nightmare! Are you here?" The little skeleton called out of his brother, going up to the tree.

In response, silence. The guardian kid walked around the tree, but did not find another keeper.

"Nightmare, I know... you're here somewhere."

Again no response. Dream sighed and walked around the tree again. And suddenly a piece of crumpled paper fell on top of him and a voice was heard:

"What do you need? I thought you didn't car-"  
  
"Are you on the tree? Come down! Is it dangerous..."

The skeleton with yellow lights in the eye sockets looked at his interlocutor on the tree. It was another skeleton, only with sky-blue lights in the eye sockets.

"What nonsense!" Skeleton on a tree started. "...However, I am busy. Go to the village."  
  
"But I need you!"  
  
"Why am I needed?" Nightmare asked, raising an eyebrow questioningly. "They kind of... drove me away. And with the villagers you like to have fun more... than with your brother."  
  
"Night... There was a problem... and I won’t be able to cope this without you."

Hearing these words, the guardian of black apples jumped from the branch on which he was sitting. He came closer to the guardian of the golden apples. You could see that the skeletons are the same height and very similar. This is because they were twins.

"So, when the problem, then "Night, help!", but when you need to have some fun - “Night, leave ... your aura worsens your mood”?!" A Skeleton with a sky-blue lights frowned.

Dream shook his head in protest and nearly burst into tears.

"No! Night, I... just... we... there..." Nevertheless one tear flowed from the eye socket of the little guardian. "I helped with the celebration... and then decided to play a little with the children, entertain them... there... just... was... We just played with a big dog! And! She was frightened of something... and took one of the children... deep into the dark part of the forest! Plea..."

Dream really burst into tears. Nightmare grabbed him by the shoulders and tried to calm him down.

"Yea, yea... Dream, calm down! I... I will help you. Just don’t cry... and explain what happened... I will help. Will help." The elder brother said, and then began to wipe away the tears flowing down the cheeks of the younger one.  
  
"O-okey. I will show... where she took the child."

Dream took Nightmare by the hand and led him to the place where he had last seen the child. They had to go through the village. Along the way, villagers viciously looked after the guardian of black apples. Dream brought his brother to that part of the village where he saw a dog take a children away. In place, memories flashed through his head.

_"Look! Look!" One of the children shouted._  
  
_"Please don’t get hurt..." Dream warned while he was drawing pictures with the boy._  
  
_"Dream, Dream! Look... what a dog... just like a mountain. I am a conqueror of great heights." The girl said, climbing onto the back of the dog._

_Dream turned to look and smiled._

_"Yes, yes ... just look. Dogs can be aggressive."  
_  
_"Nah ... This one is very kind, I know" The girl laughed, already standing on the tops of the mountain-dog._

_At this time, others played with banks and stones: they threw stones at banks. And one of the throwers accidentally hit the dog. The dog shook and ran out of fear. The girl managed to grab the fur of a large beast. But as soon as the fluffy animal began to kick and ran towards the forest, the girl screamed. Dream turned to scream, but saw only a dog going into the depths of the forest. And what exactly happened, he did not know..._

"Dream! Dream! Why are you frozen?" Nightmare called younger brother.  
  
"Ah? Yes? What... happened?"  
  
"Actually... We’re saving a child here. That **I** have to ask what happened."  
  
"Ah... that..." Dream wanted to burst into tears again, but Nightmare stopped him with a menacing and serious look. "I don't know exactly what happened. But the dog and the girl ran there."

Dream pointed a finger towards the forest. Now, Nightmare grabbed Dream's hand and led him... to a dangerous place. They made their way into the depths of the forest, followed the dog’s tracks. There was grass further, and no trace was visible. Then Nightmare heard the bark and ran toward the sounds. They found a dog, but the child was not nearby. The guardian of black apples began to look around, and the guardian of gold went to the furry beast.

"Doggy, do you know where the girl is?" He asked the dog.

The animal sniffed Dream, wagged its tail and turned around, pointing the way with its nose.

"Nightmare, look" The guardian called out to his brother.  
  
"What, Dream?"  
  
"Its knows where the girl is."  
  
"Hmm..."

Nightmare had little faith in this. But suddenly the dog tore off and ran. And Dream rushed after her, shouting: "Nightmare! Faster, no time to think...".

"Agh... dunce" Nightmare grumbled, and then ran after Dream.

The guardian of black apples ran to his brother, caught his breath, and then asked:

"Ah... phew... why did you stop? Where..."  
  
"...This hairpin was on her hair..."

Nightmare looked ahead: there was a hairpin right in front of a huge cave. Dream was afraid to go there ... but Nightmare came closer.

"Ouu! Is anyone there? Child!" The skeleton shouted.

But he had to regret it. From the depths of the cave some shadow flew out and threw the guardian away. A girl was unconscious hanging on the shadow's paws. The skeleton rise up, rubbing a bruised spot. When Nightmare heard his brother scream, he looked up.

"Night! Thi-this is a demon!"  
  
"Wha... ?!"

The shadow lifted the child's body into the air and growled:

"Have you been looking for this? Ha-ha"  
  
"No... let her go" Dream sobbed.

The monster turned toward the keeper: Dream stood, sobbed and held a staff, ready for battle. What could he do at all? So little... The shadow growled and threw the baby skeleton away, striking by his tail. And then she approached to another one.

"Will you fight for this carcass too?" The demon asked, shaking the girl's body.  
  
"You! Dream..."

Nightmare turned to Dream, and his condition struck him: the hand of the guardian of the golden apples was broken, blood flowed from it; a scratch on the cheek. The demon, with his other paw, grabbed the collar of Nightmare's shirt.

"So what will you do, little weak skeleton?" The creature stared into his eye sockets.  
  
"I... I..."  
  
"Hm... wait. I figured it out."

The shadow left Nightmare and laid the child next to him, and then went to Dream.

"No! Don't... don't touch him!" The skeleton shouted.

The demon was not even going to listen to him. She took Dream and threw him on the trees. From the pain in the back, the guardian groaned.

"No!" Nightmare shouted once more.

This time, the demon hit Dream by tail. From pain, the skeleton lost consciousness.

"Huh... what a pity. He quickly losed. Now playing with him is not interesting. Perhaps I’ll finish the unfortunate."  
  
"No!" The guardian of black apples begged.

The shadow grinned, and then threw Dream's unconscious body at the feet of his older brother.

"Look. He will die soon."  
  
"No! He... he can not."

Nightmare got to his feet and wanted to go to Dream, but... The tail of the monster once again walked through the body of a small protector. Nightmare jumped out, looking at it in horror.

"Last blow and he's dead."  
  
"Noo.. " The older brother had already begun to cry.

The shadow came closer to the brothers and... first struck Nightmare, and then pierced Dream(Nightmare did not see exactly where). The guardian of the black apples fell to his knees, all in tears, he saw blood... a lot of blood...

_What if?_  
  


_Dream will die?_  
  


_No! He must not die! No!_

Nightmare looked at the laughing demon with an insensitive and terrifying look. And then...

* * *

Dream woke up already in their with brother house. He did not yet realize what had happened. And then he remembered...

"Girl! Demon! Nigh-"

His older brother came running to the screams.

"Dream! What happened?"

The guardian of the golden apples jumped up, grabbed his brother by the shoulders and looked at him fearfully.

"Night! Where is the kid? What happened?"  
  
"Drea..."

But Dream still had little strength, his grip loosened, and he grimaced in pain. Nightmare quickly put him back to bed.

"Dream, you were badly hurt. You need to lie."  
  
"Night! How is-"  
  
"She is... fine. Don't worry" Nightmare interrupted brother.

Then the guardian of the black apples sat next to his little brother's bed. He looked out the window thoughtfully, but with a smile on his face.

"W-what happened... to you?" Dream asked quietly.

Nightmare was silent...

_"What it is?!"_  
  


_"What did you do with the child? And... the guardian?!"_  
  


_"Monster!"_

_Nightmare dragged along the road two bodies: a girl and his brother. His hands and clothes below were covered in blood(But whose?). The guardian of the black apples walked silently, ignoring the insults._

_"What the hell are you?! To do... such. With an innocent child... and own brother!"_

_The skeleton went to one of the adults, who, in his opinion, was a doctor and said only:_

_"She needs to be examined, but... I don’t think she has serious wounds."_

_He let go of the child’s body; it flopped to the ground. And the guardian wandered to a **real** home..._

Nightmare frowned, and then answered:

"Nothing. Nothing, Dream. Nothing special. But to you. You need a sleep."

The older brother leaned towards Dream, kissed his forehead and covered him with a blanket.

"Ah..." The skeleton yawned, he really was still tired. "...Ok-keey."  
  
"Good."  
  
"Night."  
  
"M?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
"..." Nightmare said nothing for a moment. "And me... too."

Dream's eye sockets closed, only darkness remained, and the little skeleton fell into a dream.


	2. Sunny morning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Meeting with Dream in the present. Incident in the forest and disagreement with the hunters.

The sun rose from behind the mountains and illuminated the forest and the village. Soon villagers will wake up. Although this place is not quite a village... before - "yes", it was a small village. But now it has the status of a city. But despite this, the local population still call their home - "village". This city is still not very large: only one hospital and two squares. But there is a big temple.

This temple is called **"Apple-tree Millia"**. This is a very ancient building, it was built at the base of the village. I wonder how the temple could stand for so long. But this time it not important. The main thing is who lives here. But what does it mean to "lives"? Yeah... he lives here for the reason that he has nowhere else to go. But he’s also the main priest of this place, so... maybe he can. The temple has several separate buildings, a courtyard, a basement, many rooms, various types of altars, a large hall...

The main priest here is a skeleton. And yes, this is not strange. After all, there are two intelligent races in the world: people and monsters. And he has been living here for a long time... and he is more than 1000 years old. His room is not so big: a closet, a table, a mirror, a nightstand, a bed and two windows.

And now the rays of the morning sun pass through the window and curtains. Light falls on the face of the skeleton, he squints and covers his face with his palm. Only after the skeleton opens the eye sockets.

"Dream... Just a dream..."

He gets out of bed, goes to the closet and takes out his clothes. This is a white gown-coat with gold patterns, a blue shirt, yellow pants and blue boots. The skeleton begins to dress, and then goes to the mirror and straightens the diadem on the head. He leaves the room and goes to the main hall.

His name is Dream. He is the main priest here, and also a guardian. You do not know who the "guardians" are? Guardians is a fraction whose members protect the world from darkness and demons. There are also hunters. The two fractions have similar goals, but the ways to achieve these goals are different. Hunters seek and kill demons, guardians try to "heal" the demons without killing. So... Dream is the guardian, the reason why he chose this fraction is in his past, his common past with his brother. He wants to protect, give light and drive away darkness, but he does not want any death. And Dream cope with this task.

And now begins the morning routine in the temple. The skeleton went to the altar in the main hall and began to write some symbols and look at the previous ones, and then he smiled.

"What a sunny day today."

Dream needed to see the city, so he left the temple and headed to one of the taverns. On the way he was greeted by the joyful faces of the villegers. Today was truly a wonderful day...

Do you think - "why did he go to the tavern"? Just there you can easily find out information about everything that happens in the village and beyond. Already in place, Dream sat down on a chair near the bar and ordered just water and salad with omelet. Although it was only 9:00am, but the people were not few. And some managed to get drunk already. When the bartender brought the order to the skeleton and Dream began his breakfast, he heard people talking about hunters at a table behind. When the guardian finished eating, he went exactly to that table and asked:

"Um... excuse me. But... did you say something about hunters?"

"Aa... Do you... serve in the temple?" One of the group asked.

"Umm... Yes. I'm from the Apple-tree Millia temple. My name is-"

"It doesn’t matter to us. Did you want to know something about hunters?" Another human interrupted him.

The skeleton thought. Dream was kind, but even he did not like hunters. And it was important for him to know if any hunters arrived in the village.

"Yes. You said that yesterday a group of people and monsters who called themselves hunters settled in a hotel..."

"Ah... yea. I heard from a friend. That last night these hunters settled in the Feli Hotel. Probably they were passing... because they said they were going to Lifetovy town."

"Oh. Thank. Thank you so much!"

Dream thanked them and ran out of the tavern. Further, the keeper was going to go to the hospital, and then it was already possible to look for hunters. The guardian was going to go to the hospital next, and then he would be able to look for hunters. He went to the hospital because he was asked to check magic items to protect from dark spells. After the check, Dream could not resist and walked around the children's wards. He was very good-natured and loved to cheer up the sick. For this he was sometimes scolded. But the skeleton continued to do this.

And now he could look for the arrived guests. Therefore, the guardian went to the hotel, which was told to him in the tavern. He wanted to quickly find them, so he was running. When the skeleton turned around the corner, he collided with a monster.

"Oh. Sorry. I was just in a hurry and did not se-"

Dream looked at the one he pushed. He had shabby clothes, a sword and symbolism...

"Are you... _a hunter_?" The guardian asked, rising from the road and holding out his hand for help.

The monster took help, got up and shook off the dust, and then answered:

"Yes. I'm a hunter... Does that bother you?"

"I... just... "

The monster was hailed by his friends, and he ran to them. They were about to go somewhere. Dream stood without moving. And then, when he came to his senses, he hastened to approach them.

"Wait a moment. Are you hunters? I wanted..." The guardian began, catching up with them.

"Yes, we are hunters. Is this some kind of problem?" One of the group asked.

"Yes of course!"

The hunters looked at him in confusion. And Dream stood silent for some time, and then added:

"... This is not what I meant. That is. I'm the local guardian here. And I wanted to trac-"

"So you are the guardian, yes? _Do-not-kill-demons_ fraction! Yes?! What do you need?" The human interrupted him.

"Um... actually... we have the same goals and..." Dream spoke nervously, and then sighed and continued with a serious look. "I'm here in charge of the demons. And you are just a passage. You do not have the right to commit rash acts that violate my instructions."

"So you think that rash acts are killing demons to protect the innocent?" The monster said sarcastically.

" ... I don't... I want to say. You can take defenseless. No need to kill demons. I keep order here, so... here the rules of the guardians apply."

"Ha-ha. Of course. Are you going to follow us? Are you going to follow us? So that we do not inadvertently protect someone." The human laughed. "DEMONS DESERVE TO DIE! And if there were no serious incidents in this place... you cannot understand the pain of loss through the fault of these creatures!"

"I..."

Behind them was a laugh of children. And children ran up to a group of arguing adult monsters and people.

"Dream, Dream! Look what picture I drew." The girl said.

"Ah... yes. Very beautiful." The guardian smiled at her.

"Oh ... and who are they? Such swords... Are they hunters?" One of the children asked.

"Yes. These are hu-" Dream began.

"Yes. We are hunters." A human from the hunters interrupted.

"Wow! Do you protect people? You are doing a good thing... fight with demons."

"Of course! We kill these terrible creatures! So that you can safely walk in the forest..."

"O! Cool. But... Dream said that we can’t go into the forest, it’s dangerous there." The boy said.

"Hm. So this guardian said it was dangerous there..." The monster hunter grinned. "He is just weak and cannot defeat demons... But with us... if we kill demons, then it will be safe there. And you can always walk in this forest!"

"I'm... I'm not weak! You are not local and do not even understand that this forest is very dangerous! Even if you do your job, it won’t be safe enough for children to walk in it." Dream protested.

"Huh? Words of wimps. And the guardians are all so worried about dangerous places. Because somewhere on a subconscious level, they know that the way they “protect” will never give the desired effect." The human said and leaned toward the children. "Children, do you want to take a walk in the forest? We can give you such an opportunity... rather than this... Dream? Yes?"

"Yes!" All the children said in unison.

"Well, then fine. We still have a lot of time. Come on, kids."

A group of hunters led the children along. Dream stood silently, looking after them. And then he cried out loudly:

"You don’t even understand your mistake! It was forbidden to walk through the forest for a reason. Not only on my whim. This rule has been from the very foundation of this village! You're wrong!"

The hunters did not even turn around, and the main one only waved his hand. The guardian grimaced and headed toward the temple. He did not notice that only the monster with whom the skeleton collided paid attention to his statements.

* * *

The hunters led the children, and were already in the northern part of the forest. Dream indignantly followed them, arms crossed and often sighed in displeasure.

"Well, why did you, the guardian, follow us?" The human indignantly asked.

"This is because I have already said that I will follow you. And also you know little about this forest. And any discontent and principles do not bother me more than children's health."

"Okey... okey."

They approached a cave and decided to make a halt here. They laid out the tablecloths and invited the children to sit down to eat. Everyone happily sat down and began to eat the fruits that they were given.

"Hey, the guardian. Would you like to eat... an apple?" One of the monsters suggested.

"Um..."

"Mister. Dream does not eat apples. More precisely, not always." The girl warned.

"Why so? These are not demons... they can be 'killed'." The monster grinned.

"I don't know. But Dream said that he did not like to raise the theme of “why he does not eat apples” and his attitude toward them."

The monster shrugged and bit off a piece of apple. And the guardian only took a deep breath and sat next to the tree. For some time everyone was doing what they wanted: who looked at flowers and birds, who still ate, who lay on the bedspreads. One of the hunters went up to the cave and noticed some letters at the entrance, but he did not know this language.

"Hey! The guardian! What is it written here? You said that you have been living here for a long time... What is this cave?" He asked.

"M? Oh... this. Earlier from this cave and a little further there was a dark part. Now it is more or less normal. And in the cave lived a demon of the shadow kind. As I know, he scared children at night in the village and brought them to his monastery... played with them there until they get tired. And then he ate them."

"Wow... And what happened to him now?"

"Nothing at all. He died." The guardian said calmly.

" ... I see."

The skeleton returned to his habitable place, and the hunter continued to peer into the darkness of the cave and seemed to hear the echoes of the cries of the children. Brr... Spooky. After he returned to his friends. Many of the hunters dozed off. But suddenly Dream heard some sounds from behind.

"I'll... be back soon. Just check." The guardian shouted, hiding behind the trees.

* * *

They shouldn't have waited a long time for the skeleton. It was just forest animals. But he still did not remove the staff on his return. Dream glanced reproachfully at the hunters who were completely asleep, grimaced, took a deep breath and went to the bedspreads. The skeleton stroked the sleeping girl and smiled, in her hands she held a sheet with a picture. Dream got up and again examined the surroundings...

"Where?! Where did he go ?!" The guardian shouted in fright.

" ...Ah? What are you yelling?" the monster hunter spoke sleepily.

Dream quickly jumped to the awakened hunter, grabbed and lifted him.

"You should have been watching the children!" The skeleton looked angrily at him.

"So what? We are watching! And if something happens..."

"Then where is the boy?!" Dream interrupted him.

"Boy?" the monster rubbed his eyes and looked around. "Which boy? It seems... everybody is in place."

"That one! Which first came to you! You promised a lot more... Braggarts!" The guardian was angry.

After these words, the hunter certainly jumped in confusion. He woke the others.

"Oh... yes! Exactly... that boy. Who looked at our weapons." The main hunter guessed, scratching his head.

"Finally." Dream was indignant. "Now you need to look for him! There is nothing to think about... Faster!"

"Wait a minute... "

The guardian grabbed the human hunter shirt and looked at him seriously.

"Listen here. Now I command here. You and someone else will remain here to guard other children. And the other ones with me look for a child." Dream said.

"What are you saying?! I am responsible for... these children and my team. You have no right to give orders. And even more to leave me here. I will decide who will do what. And you..."

"Drown out your pride!" The guardian flashed his eye light menacingly. First of all, **I** am responsible for these children as villagers of **my** village. And you are irresponsible! You're kind of stronger than all of them, right? So it’s better that you guard the other children, and someone else... to help. And now there’s no time for stubbornness!"

The skeleton threw the hunter away, prepared a staff, and then called some hunters with him.

* * *

They searched for a child for a long time. And already some of the group were desperate to find the boy alive and asked to return to the main hunter, to which they met an evil grin of the skeleton in response. But then a scream was heard, and everyone headed towards where it was coming from. It was a demon, he pressed a child to a tree trunk. Dream turned the staff into a bow and shot, creating a space between the creature and the boy. The child quickly orientated himself and crawled away, but did not have time - the demon grabbed him with one of his tails and squeezed his leg until the crunch, the boy let out a moan. The monster hunter quickly rushed towards the beast and cut off its tail, blocking the child. But the demon was not so simple, he threw the defender to the right by the other tail and approached the defenseless child.

Then more arrows flew into him, and no longer past, but just in the flesh. One of the hunters grabbed the child and dragged him away. The beast sprinkled some kind of liquid towards the fugitives, but another human hunter blocked the stream, and he himself was slightly burnt. Other hunters attacked the demon, they wanted to kill him.

"No need to kill him! We can leave... the child is already safe. We don't need anything else." Dream shouted.

"Maybe you don’t need it! It is our job to kill them to the end!" One of the fighting hunters shouted.

"Fools! This is not that..."

The demon threw back all the hunters that attacked him by tails, and pierced the skeleton's shoulder with magic. Dream groaned in pain and clutched at his shoulder. Then he was thrown into a tree, and the guardian lost consciousness. The beast headed toward the hunter, guarding the boy.

"This is... my food."

The monster hunter set his sword ready and closed his eyes, tears appeared from his eyes and he trembled.

"So you... are afraid. As I can see." The demon growled.

"Ah?"

"I like when food is afraid..."

The hunter looked at him in horror. Here it is - his end. No. Poor child. And then the demon sent his magic to the protector and the child, very close and...

A Dream appeared before them and created a shield. He frowned and then said:

"So... that means? You only care about... your food?"

"Food! I do not like tenacious and agile food!"

"So I can... try..." The guardian said through shortness of breath, he did not have much strength.

The shield began to crack under the weight of magic. And when it completely collapsed, Dream pushed the monster with the child to the side with the help of magic stars. Then the guardian turned his bow back into a staff, but another in shape. A very bright star burned at the tip of the wand. The skeleton poked this star into the body of the demon, and in that place golden cracks that emitted light passed through the body of the beast. Then a flash of light and...

"What? What was it?" The monster with the boy, opening his eyes after a wave of light, asked.

"It..."

The hunter went to Dream and looked ahead: in place of the demon was a big fat rat. But then the guardian swayed and began to fall, but the monster hunter managed to catch him. Everyone approached them, not understanding what had happened. Hunters looked at the skeleton, then at the animal in front. Dream tried to stand up straight, not trembling, and then said:

"This... is your demon."

"How it is? What are you saying!" One of the crowd shouted out.

"Come on... we have the same goals: to remove demons from our world. So the guardians... remove them... This is "healing". We do not destroy the soul like you, but return it to its original state, before becoming a demon."

"It means... that this rat? It is the demon who almost beat us!"

"Yes... It's just that you, hunters, think little about the origin of demons and their varieties. Guardians go deep into it to heal them. And this demon was an animal type." The guardian explained and smiled slightly. "You may not believe it, but... even animals turn into demons."

Everyone stood silently, comprehending new information. And then the monster supporting the skeleton’s body asked:

"But... why did you say "I can try"?"

"Oh? This... He just wounded me, and also the use of magic and shield exhausted me. I did not know if there was enough energy. And since it was an animal type demon, then it does not require too much effort."

"... Clear"

They did not return for some time. Some of them needed to take a breath and restore energy, and Dream, meanwhile, was examining the child. Although the skeleton did not have much strength, he nevertheless used healing magic.

When everyone had a rest, the guardian ordered to return. He exhausted all his magic, so he walked staggeringly. When they returned to the place where they had a halt, the main hunter attacked Dream and knocked him down.

"AND WHAT WAS THAT?! WHAT KIND OG LIGHT WAS THAT?! DID YOU FIND THE CHILD? HOW IS MY TEAM?" He yelled at the skeleton.

"Hey... chill out. He saved us and the child... He has little strength. And we found a boy." One of the hunters pulled his boss away from the poor guardian.

"Yees? So what?! He has little strength... And what did he do to spend all his energy?"

"He..."

"Not necessary. I don’t care what he thinks. The main thing is that I fulfilled my duty." Dream interrupted.

The guardian got up and shook off the dirt. He had so little strength, his legs did not hold his body, the skeleton staggered, but managed to rest against the walls of the cave. The hunters began to collect things and count the children. The children were confused and not very cheerful. The monster, who had been trying to protect the lost boy all this time, could not stand it and shouted:

"The head is wrong!"

Everyone looked at him in confusion, Dream flinched and worried. And the main hunter frowned, went to the insolent monster and looked angrily at him.

"Well, what am I wrong in?! Ungrateful whelp!" He grabbed the monster by the edge of the cloak.

"About... about the guardians... their values."

"Huh?"

"This skeleton... Dream." The hunter looked toward the guardian. "He saved us! We could not defeat the demon. And also... he was right: we found a child, and it was better to leave, rather than start a battle. And... he got rid of the demon!"

"How did **he** get rid of the demon? He is... the guardian... they don't kill." The head laughed.

"The fact is that he did not kill the demon, but the demon... as such... was gone. He "heal" him. He reincarnated the demon, and this beast returned to its original form. And you know what... it was just a rat. We... heh... could not kill the rat."

"What?"

But a skeleton laughed from behind. Everyone turned in shock from the reaction. When Dream finished laughing, he said:

"Ah... excuse me. It's just... the hunter has never stood up for me, especially... against his head. Maybe... I'm just tired."

"But! I wanted to prove... that you were right. You're kind and... I can't just stand there."

"Um... Thanks of course. But... there is nothing to stand up for me. You just can’t imagine what will happen next. So I’ll just say sorry."

The guardian walked past them, approached the girl and patted her on the head, smiled, and then added:

"Have to go. It is already getting dark."

Everyone packed their things and went in the direction of the village.

* * *

"How it is?!" The main hunter was indignant.

"You are demoted and driven out of the hunters. That is all. Now get together with your **former** team in the temple. There the rest of the procedure will happen."

The _ex_ main hunter left the town hall. On the street, he did not meet his ex comrades and decided that they were already in the temple. He sighed and wandered to the temple. Entering the holy place, the human shouted:

"Hey! You! The guardian! What the hell have you done?!"

Everyone turned to cry outraged ex hunter.

"Finally. The main star of this circus appeared on the stage. Come here. Here your life as a hunter ends." Dream said.

"You!"

The former hunter walked quickly to the skeleton and grabbed him by the collar of the gown.

"What did you do?! That they kicked me out of the hunters. What right-"

A door opened behind and a voice was heard:

"He has the right to everything. Especially against people like you. He is the **main** guardian here for a long time. And you do not have the proper authority besides him."

"Oh... King... Everybody is in place." Dream said.

"So... what did he say?" The ex head said confusedly.

The human let go of the skeleton and stepped aside. The guardian turned to the altar and began to fumble with something.

"Our guardian said that a _certain_ hunter put children at risk. He did not keep track of one of them. He did not match his position and generally the title of hunter. And his subordinates could not beat a simple demon. And only thanks to good luck it all ended well."

The ex head just stood silently, looking down at the floor. He really had nothing to say, and he realized his mistake. The skeleton finished, turned around and said:

"Everything is ready. And now I ask the **EX** main hunter to come to me."

The human, without saying anything, went to the guardian.

"I am the guardian of the Sunapple city, the servant of the Apple-tree Millia temple, depriving Gerd Perili of hunter status. I take away his hunter abilities, personalized weapon and plate with symbolism." Dream spoke like in court.

At this moment, the human body lit up and the stream of magic transferred to the altar. The skeleton took the sword and the hunter badge. And Gerd went to the door.

"And you..." the guardian turned to the other hunters. "You are kicked out from the city immediately and it is forbidden to visit it for four months. Now you need to go to the headquarters of which you are members.

"What?" Almost many hunters objected in surprise.

"You are also punished, do not forget this. It’s just taken pity on you... and that’s it. And your headquarters is responsible for you. Also, without the head, you do not have the right to argue and just stay here. Sorry, but you have to leave."

All sadly wandered to the exit. And Dream was left to deal with something else, but he had to interrupt his business. The monster defending his rights before leaving shouted:

"I-I... I tried to do you good... But you... you... You are..."

He ran out of the temple, almost in tears. These words confused the keeper, but he quickly orientated himself and ran after the monster. He just left the temple and shouted after the runaway:

"Wait. S-sorry... I'm... I'm just doing my duty... as the protector of this village. I... I..."

The monster stopped and turned to the skeleton; tears streamed down his cheeks.

"I-I don't like the hunter. Everyone knows about it. Yes... I am good, and I do good to everyone... but if necessary, I can do bad and hurt. I always do everything for the inhabitants of this village. I love children, and always protect them. And such irresponsible hunters... I especially do not like. And what affected you... these are just ordinary rules, you are... you know your laws. I... I..."

Tears flowed from Dream's eye sockets, he cried.

"I... I... I..."

And suddenly that monster came up and hugged him.

"Fine. I... understand. This is not bad, these are your responsibilities... not only for job, but also by your kindness. You do everything for everyone. And the fact... that you do not like someone is normal for every _living_ creature."

The guardian looked at him, smiled softly, and hugged him back.

"Yes... thanks. You really... a good hunter, who I can accept."

They stood like that for a while. And then the monster went to the side to exit the village. Dream just waved his hand after him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel it, the dark wind blooooows.... Shoooooooo...


	3. Return of the Lord of Dark senses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Strange things happen in the village. Dream meets someone who has not seen for a long time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: a lot of feelings.

There used to be more dark parts in the forest. It was dangerous there: just go a few meters away from the village - and consider your end. But that time passed, and the situation became more normal: of course the darkness did not completely disappear, only some places were freed from it. As you know, the dark part remained in high concentration only in the southern and southeastern parts. Still, walking through the forest is not safe: demons and other dangerous creatures still live there. And for cleaning the territory you can thank Dream. After this place left the main source of trouble, the guardian was able to take care of getting rid of the darkness. And now the townspeople can live in peace, without thinking about the dangerous forest surrounding them.

In the morning, Dream felt unwell. It started yesterday: in the morning he decided to take a walk to the kindergarten and play with the children, but after spending an hour on the street he felt sick and dizzy, and the guardian decided to return to the temple, he felt better upon his return. Therefore, he spent yesterday on the affairs of the servant. The skeleton did not like his health at all, and that he could not check the condition of the village. But there is nothing to be done about it, and in order not to strain, he will have to not go out today and spend the whole day in the temple. By the way, the guardian had accumulated affairs related to the temple. Dream all day went from one building to another, looked at the symbols and checked the altars, watered the flowers. At work, he often sighed, all these things were pretty boring, but very important.

Here the guardian went to the main building in the main hall. Here was the main altar. Dream checked it, wiped the walls of the room with a rag, lit magical candles, watered the flowers and, exhausted sighing, plopped down on one of the benches. But all day he was haunted by a strange feeling that something grandiose and unpleasant would happen. This feeling annoyed him, but somehow, unconsciously, the guardian did not try to go outside, something held him back within the temple.

The skeleton sighed once more and was about to just get up and go into the courtyard, but suddenly the door opened loudly behind. Dream turned around, dumbfounded, one of the villagers stood on the threshold.

"The guardian! I have something to tell you!" The one who entered shouted.

"Aa... You're Savet. What happeee..."

A man approached the guardian, and Dream could make out that he had a broken right arm and a scratch on his cheek.

"Dream! We had a disaster!" The man continued.

The keeper immediately jumped to his feet and walked closer to the villager, he shook him anxiously and asked:

"What... what is wrong with you? Where did these..."

"My condition is not so important right now... The main thing is what is happening in the village. We have trouble!" Savet interrupted him.

"What a trouble?!" the skeleton exclaimed worriedly.

The man asked Dream to calm down a bit and sit down. He followed directions.

"The matter is... guardian. Something strange began to happen in the village. I can say that it all started yesterday when you spent all day in the temple." The man paused, thinking how to say what had happened, and then continued: "Yesterday we did not see you on the streets of the city, but we did not take it seriously. At first everything was fine. But somewhere after dinner, everyone began to behave strangely: they either went gloomy, or sad, and were still very anxious. And when asked why such a mood, they said that they just remembered bad ones, and someone completely went away. Further it became generally worse: people began to see the illusions that led them into fear. And then something attacked one of the people, he miraculously managed to survive, but the wounds were terrifying. But what happened at night was absolutely terrible. Villagers saw nightmares, and in the morning some even had strange bleeding wounds. Today, by dinner, we found mutilated corpses of villagers, there was a lot of blood. And I decided to tell you about it. Now it’s really interesting to me why you didn’t leave the temple these two days..."

From what he heard skeleton extinguished the lights in the eye sockets. For a long time he comprehended the terrible news. Then Dream returned from thought and looked anxiously at the man.

" ...Oh gosh." The guardian whispered, covering his mouth with his palm, and then answered: "I... I... I felt very bad. And I decided to stay in the temple, because here I was more or less normal. And... a-and I'm so sorry... I-I don't... I was not there t-to protect y-you."

"No, no... Dream. I do not blame you. If you really felt so bad, you had to maintain your health. Without you, we would have completely disappeared. And now... are you ready to come with me? You have to look at what happened with your eyes(skeletons have no eyes haha)."

"Of course! I am responsible for all of them. And now I can’t stay in this building." Dream exclaimed, rising abruptly from the bench.

"Fine... I'll take you to the hospital."

The man went to the door, and the guardian followed him. On the street he was still not so well, but acceptable. On the way, Dream thought a lot about what he was told:

"All these symptoms... were similar. No. Nonono. It can't be **HIM**. After all... he left. He could not return, not now. I'm not ready yet. I... he shouldn't... it just can't be. But... it looks so much... like him."  
  


"Oh gosh... I'm a guardian, and so scared... But... there’s a chance that it... could be _him_." The skeleton mentally waved his head. "No. Dream. You can’t think about the bad. It... haha... can't be him."

Dream nevertheless hoped for a better scenario: "It may be just a dream demon who decided to encroach on this village. But I can drive him away. In vain this creature came to this village."

Approaching the ward, the man brought out the guardian from thought:

"Hey, guardian."

"Uh? Yes? Umm... " The skeleton was nervous.

"Here. One of the victims. Are you ready to watch?"

"Yes! I have to see the consequences."

After these words, they entered the room. A woman was lying in the ward, but when she noticed the man and monster coming in, she immediately screamed, closed her eyes and wrapped herself in a blanket. Savet went to the patient and tried to calm her down. Dream continued to stand at the door shocked by the reaction, but pulled himself together and also walked over. The guardian used his soothing magic, and then asked:

"W-what happened to you?"

"I... The guardian?" The girl opened her eyes, soothing magic worked well, and then she replied: "It... all started in the morning. All day I was haunted by a strange feeling that someone was watching me, and then this feeling turned into something else. I... as a child saw the death of my dog, and then my best friend. After that, I was often afraid to meet other people. And today... whom I looked at, a memory of their deaths entered my head. This... this is so terrible. Therefore... I was scared of you."

"I see, I see. But... that was in the past. There is nothing to be afraid of what has already happened... After all. Everyone you saw today, they are alive. Of course... it hurts when your loved ones die. But there is nothing to fear that, as you know, happened... and the events cannot be repeated the same, since they have already happened." The skeleton spoke, stroking the victim on the head.

"But... but at that moment I feel the same feelings... as when they died."

Her words made Dream startle, It brought closer and closer to... the worst scenario. He looked away to the companion.

"Savet, take me to another victim." Dream said, and then turned back to the girl. "Sorry, I need to figure this out. Therefore, we need to leave already."

They left the ward, and the girl waved her hand. Across this side, there were patient wards with similar symptoms. The man led the guardian to a monster who was very seriously injured. On the way, Dream got worse and worse, he could hardly control himself.

Now, when they entered the ward of this monster, the skeleton for a moment lost consciousness and began to fall, but the man managed to catch him. When consciousness returned to Dream, he looked forward to the bed and was horrified by the condition of the patient. The monster was lying on the bed, almost all bandaged, his eyes were bandaged, there was no one wing. The guardian could not resist and screamed in fright. To his cry, the lying monster slightly bowed his head, and then gave a voice:

"W-who is it h-her-e?"

"Friend, it's me and... the guardian." Savet answered.

" ...So. I-it was he yelling?"

"Excuse me. I... I just feel bad. And what happens is terrible... and your condition too" Dream explained himself.

"Oh... G-guard-ian, are you he-re to fi-nd out what is the m-matter?" The victim became interested.

"Ah... yes." The guardian replied uncertainly. "And... can you tell me what happened to you? But... if it hurts you to remember this, you may not tell."

"I... I will tell. It happened at night. I was late at work. But when I went home, something attacked me. At first I felt sad for some reason. And then a figure appeared in front of me, it hit me with something. Then everything darkened. And I... I... saw the saddest moment in my life. And the longer I saw this, the more wounds appeared on me. Then... my wing was torn off. And I... I decided to deprive myself of my sight: I called on my magic and pierced my eyes. Then I was about to escape... and then I ran into one of the passers-by. And they took me to the hospital." The monster paused. "Now. I understand ... that piercing eyes was the wrong decision. I... at that moment something was wrong with me... Uh... now I will be blind."

"This... this... " Dream had no words, then he grimaced. "Quickly leaving."

The skeleton grabbed a man by the hand, quickly led him out of the room, and then completely out of the hospital building. In the fresh air, the guardian let go of Savet’s hand, pressed himself against the wall and caught his breath, holding his hand on his chest.

"Dream! What... was it?" The man exclaimed uncomprehendingly.

"Huh... what?"

"Why do you..."

"We will patrol at night." Dream interrupted him.

"'Patrol'?"

"At night, he kills. We will follow him at night."

The guardian moved away from the wall and, without saying anything, went to the temple.

* * *

At 1:00am, Savet went to the temple building. The door opened, Dream came out, holding a staff in his hands. The only thing the skeleton said:

"Let's go." 

And the man followed him. Since it was already night, there were few people on the street. Everything was fine so far, nothing unusual, only Dream kept shuddering all the time from any rustle.

"Maybe... you should go home. I myself." Savet suggested.

"No!" The skeleton cried out, he was trembling all over. " **I** am the guardian here. It is my task to protect you from such... bullshit. And not you... you yourself."

"But... you are all tremb..."

Suddenly there was a cry behind the house. The man quickly orientated himself and ran to a scream. Dream stood rooted to the spot, a chill ran across his back, and only then he came to his senses and also turned a corner. But what he saw there...

_"No!"_

_They did not come in time. The demon has already killed his victim and now swallows her soul. This creature did not even turn in their direction. Dream trembled, and then fell to his knees, he soothingly hugged himself, tears flowed from the eye sockets._

_"No... no... We did not come in time. Did not come. Too late... "_

But suddenly the skeleton was pulled back by the person accompanying him. The guardian looked at him with dumb horror on his face.

"Dream! What's wrong?" The man said. "Why did you cry?"

"Uh?"

Dream came to his senses, he looked at Savet, at the scene of the murder... and then he noticed a girl next to a man.

"What just happened?!" The skeleton cried out.

"What do you mean?"

"I just saw that..." Dream pointed to a girl nearby. "... girl died at the hands of a demon."

"Ah... Dream. Yes... there was some kind of creature. But I threw weapons at him and he disappeared into the shadows. And the girl... he only wounded her hand. I already bandaged."

"How... it is..."

"Sorry... I don't know what happeee..." Savet started, and then drew attention to the guardian. "Wait a second. Dream! You are bleeding from your mouth!"

"What?! How..."

The keeper touched his mouth and looked at his hand: there really was blood... his blood. But when? The skeleton tried to get up and felt a burning pain in his back. The man looked at Dream's back and exclaimed:

"You got a cut on your whole back there!"

"What?!" The guardian was frightened and surprised.

Unfortunately, Dream did not have an eyes on the back of his head(and indeed the eyes, he’s the skeleton), so he could not see the wound, but he noticed how the blood flows to the ground.

"Listen... Dream." Savet started. "Let's both of us go home."

"What?!"

"None of this comes out. You are hurt. And here is a girl. I will take her to the hospital, and you go home for treatment."

"But!"

"What will you do in this state?"

"I..."

The guardian had nothing to say. He obeyed and headed to the temple.

* * *

The whole day was cloudy. Although Dream was still not so well outside the temple, due to recent events, he could not just sit inside the temple. But the skeleton did not even know that something _grandiose_ and _unpleasant_ would happen today.

The keeper walked from one tavern to the hospital. Everything was fine, maybe... everything had already passed... and he could rest. Rest. He should not have thought so. It could not pass just like that, the demons do not leave the feeder just like that. The clouds all thickened and thickened, they foreshadowed... rain? or something more serious?

And now... it happened that these clouds, driven by the dark wind, foreshadowed. All villagers began to rush about in fear, some black tentacles created nightmares. And Dream tried to calm them, he was completely at a loss. What the hell is going on here?

"Wait a little. What's happening? Why are you rushing around?" The guardian begged them.

Then the skeleton saw something that terrifies them. Some black, like darkness itself, snakes encircled their bodies, but... it seems nobody saw them. Everyone saw only their fears. Dream called a bow and decided to try to repel these snakes. This was not effective: either the snakes did not pay attention to sticks sticking out of them, or they smashed them. So the skeleton wasted energy uselessly, the proper effect of his efforts was not given.

But suddenly he heard a laugh from behind on the roof of the house:

"Hahahahaha! Oh... Dream, Dream. How weak you have become. And completely forgot my abilities."

Dream shuddered, his worst guesses came true: he returned, it was _HIS_ voice. The guardian began to turn slowly, he met his gaze with the one whom he did not want to see yet. It was a skeleton. His bones were covered with some kind of black liquid, horns were on the skull, mucus completely covered the right eye socket, and a red light burned in the left one, many black tentacle-tails protruded from the back, huge black wings. He was wearing a coat, shirt, pants and boots. It was not clear what color his clothes were, she was just very dark.

"Night-mare..." The guardian barely spoke.

"You completely lost your knack. You can't even destroy my snakes. What did you do all this time while I was gone? To weaken so..." The nightmare demon grinned.

"I..." The skeleton was taken aback. "Why did you come back?!"

His impudent words angered the demon on the roof. Nightmare summoned two large black tentacles, and they squeezed Dream's body. The pain made the skeleton moan.

"You ask... why I came back? Are you completely stupid?! Or what? I returned to my home. Are you... what? not happy to see your brother again?" Nightmare said, bowing his head and crossing his arms over his chest. "Uh... I had so much fun these two days. Only... I was upset: while I was having fun here, you were sitting out your ass in... your temple. You don’t even understand how you upset your brother. I thought I would play with yo-"

"Stop it all, now!" Dream interrupted him. "This is **not your** home for a long time. And I... cannot be glad to the one who destroys **my** house."

The tentacles squeezed the guardian’s body even more, Dream hardly restrained a moan.

"WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU? DO YOU WANT TO PISS ME OFF?! CRAPPY STAR!" Nightmare growled. " ...If you behave so badly, then... I will **punish** you."

A tentacle appeared next to Nightmare, grabbing a person familiar to Dream... Savet. Savet was unconscious. A black skeleton grabbed his chin, and then looked at Dream.

"If you do not stop being mean, then I will do something bad with him. I know... you tried to figure out what was going on with him." The demon laughed. "Oh... you weakened and became stupid for so many years. You just could not understand who was to blame for this whole mess. Or... didn’t want to."

"No! Don't touch him!" The guardian begged. "You... demon!"

Dream's last words made Nightmare flinch. The tentacle holding the human body suddenly threw its load... and he flew from the roof of the house to the ground. Then a fanged, crazy smile appeared on Nightmare's face, and the only light became terrifying small.

"How... did you just call me?" A black skeleton spoke in a trembling voice. "You are in addition to the crappy star, now you will become a dead star, little Dreammy."

The guardian had a plan, but for its implementation it was necessary to accumulate energy. Therefore, Dream has to drag out time, annoying his brother... just not to die earlier.

"So what? You're... still a demon. Why shouldn't I call you what you are, Night?" The skeleton replied.

"SHUT YOUR STUPID MOUTH!"

"Heh? You asked..."

"WHO TOLD YOU THAT I WANT TO HEAR THE ANSWER FROM YOU MOUTH, TRASH?!"

"That's it... nobody. You kind of brought nightmares on everyone. It is unlikely that anyone here is noooow adequate to tell me what is right."

"BASTARD! DO YOU REALIZE THAT MY SNAKES CAN NAIL THEM ALL?! OR DO YOUR BRAINS TURN SOUR FROM OLD AGE?!"

"Firstly, the skeletons do not have brains. Secondly... we are the same old, you've forgotten. And about the snakes... weak threat. Hm... your threats have become so fake for so many years? This ability cannot kill anyone, just make a nightmare come true. And even if it hurt, it’s weak so that you can die..."

"Huh? DON'T YOU THINK THAT OVER SOOO MANY YEARS THIS ABILITY HAS BECOME STRONGER?!"

"Hmmm..."

"ARE YOU STILL THINKING ABOUT THIS?!"

"It seems that their new strength was tested on me..."

"What? How it is... " Nightmare spoke confusedly.

"Do not you... remember? A! You may have scattered them around the city wherever, so that they frightened the people. And you don’t know where they are at all. Ah yes... you always had a weak contact with them." Dream paused. And tonight, when... we did under-patrol. It seems that one of them circled me... "

"Well, how do you like their strength?" The black skeleton grinned, he was proud of the elevated level of his magic.

"Well... to be honest... not really. It hurts of course, buuut... fear drowns the pain veeery well. So that... perhaps... almost not felt. And besides... there’s some kind of weirdness: after a bite, the wound heals quite quickly. Hm... probably this is due to a sense of fear."

"What? WHAT?! YOU ARE COMPLETELY STUPEFIED HERE WITHOUT ME, AREN'T YOU?!" Nightmare growled, a smile fading from his face.

The tentacles squeezed Dream even more. So much so that he dropped the staff and almost suffocated, the skeleton barely kept the lights in the eye sockets. But fortunately, enough energy has accumulated for the desired spell. Dream was silent, so Nightmare asked:

"Why did you stop talking? Huh? Or already deaa..."

Suddenly, golden rings appeared around the Nightmare's body and Dream's body, and yellow light from them transferred the skeletons somewhere to the forest. Since Dream was wounded and accumulated only a minimum of energy for the teleport, they were brought into a not-so-favorable zone, namely the southern part. The guardian was finally able to exhale. Confused, Nightmare sat in front of him, but when he realized what had happened, he jumped up and growled:

"Dream! What did you do?! You..." The black skeleton looked around. "Did you take us away from the village?"

"I... did what I saw fit." Dream wheezed.

"You... you... figured out how to stop my snakes." Nightmare paused. Take me away so that their inner magic weakens! But... you, my dear brother, have made the most stupid mistake in your life."

"Uh?"

"You!" the demon grinned, and tentacles emerging from the ground encircled the body of the guardian. "So it will be easier for me to deal with you!"

Dream spent a lot of energy and barely kept on his feet, and besides the shackles and... the dark energy of this zone - all this badly affected the condition of the skeleton.

"The main thing is that villagers are out of danger!" The guardian cried out.

"Oh, poor, poor Dream. Although they will free themselves from illusions, but when you are gone, I can kill them. Ah... when did you become so weak and dumb?"

Dream could no longer restrain himself and expressed his full opinion:

"I did not become weak! Just lost the habit... lost the habit of your aura! You left then... run away then!"

"I DID NOT RUN AWAY THEN!" Nightmare roared at him.

"DIDN'T RUN AWAY, YOU SAY?! When that happened... you were scared. You did not understand what was happening and how to act. You just ran away in the darkness! ADMIT IT!"

"..." The black skeleton was silent. "What... WHAT DO YOU EVEN UNDERSTAND?! YOU NEVER... NEVER... YOU DIDN'T EVEN TRY TO FIND ME!"

A black mist formed around them; it was a Nightmare's negative aura. It pressed... pressed on Dream, but he held on.

"I... I could not leave the village! Villagers! It is my duty... to protect." The guardian explained.

"'PROTECT'? AND WHO WILL PROTECT ME?! THESE WORDS MEAN NOTHING. YOU JUST DON'T LOVE ME! YOU ALWAYS LIKED ONLY THE INHABITANTS OF THIS VILLAGE! AND THEY... THEY ONLY NEEDED GOLDEN APPLES! NOT YOUR KINDNESS! NOT YOUR PROTECTION! NOT YOU! THEY ONLY NEED THE DAMN APPLES!"

" ... I... I LOVE YOU, YOU JUST HAVEN'T SEEN IT. And you didn’t want my protection or rejected it, but you were already a demon even then. A-about apples... I know... they were needed only... all of them. But! I protect them anyway... and as you see, even without apples they need me! I just can't... not protect."

The dark aura intensified not only from the Nightmare's mood, but also from the environment. The guardian's body gave way and he fell to his knees.

"STUPID! IT SEEMS THAT THE STARS COMPLETELY FILLED YOUR SKULL, AND NOW YOU CAN'T THINK SOBERLY. HAVE YOU COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN? APPLES STILL REMAIN! OUR SOULS! THIS IS THE LATEST FRUITS OF THE TREE OF SENSES! OH... AND I'M AFRAID TO UPSET YOU, BUT MAYBE, BECAUSE OF YOUR SOUL, THE TOWNSPEOPLE REACH OUT TO YOU." Nightmare laughed. "WELL?! THE TRUTH HURTS, DOESN'T IT?! THEY CONTINUE TO BE WITH YOU... ONLY BECAUSE YOUR APPLE GIVES THEM HAPPINESS!"

"No... no..." Dream looked away. "You don't understand... They are with me because I am with them. Don't understand... When that incident happened... you don’t even know how it affected our souls. And I... continue to protect them, because I want to, even if they just need my happiness. I want and I protect them. It's my wish. You don't understand... me, nor them, nor even your own feelings. You left... everything has changed. You cannot judge by what you don’t know, what you don’t understand. You are los-"

"SHUT UP, DREAM!" Nightmare interrupted him. "YOU ARE JUST A SILLY KID. YOU'RE STILL A KID WHO BELIEVES IN GOOD. GOOD. GOOD FOR EVERYONE. THERE IS NO POINT IN YOUR WORDS! AND ALSO... WHEN I LEFT. I HAVE ALSO CHANGED. SO DON'T TALK NONSENSE. YOU CAN'T UNDERSTAND... UNDERSTAND ME EITHER."

"Nightmare... I can't understand you... this is true. You always hid your real feelings from me, so I... couldn’t understand you. And the fact that you consider me stupid... is only because you cannot accept that I am telling the truth, and that I have become more mature than before. I would say like you... 'The truth hurts'. But I will not. Since I don't want to hurt you further. And I won’t let anyone do this..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH! STOP!"

Nightmare clutched his skull, he did not want to accept what his brother said. The negative grew stronger and stronger, Dream continued to hold on, but knew - he would lose soon.

"AH... HAH... DREAM. YOU'RE WRONG. YOU... YOU... SOMEONE LIKE YOU CAN'T... CAN'T HURT ME! ME! LORD OF DARK SENSES! GREATEST DEMON... HAHAHAHA..."

"Mmm... I-I was right. You are... ACK!..."

No matter how Dream tried... but the darkness was stronger this time. The lights in his eye sockets went out, his body could no longer hold and collapsed to the ground. Dark fog spread everywhere, it was very thick. The only one who could resist this was Nightmare, the Lord of Dark senses. The black skeleton went to the guardian's body and squatted down.

"Uh? Are you... dead?" Nightmare spoke, barely concealing his concern. "But you... you couldn't just die like that. I almost did not squeeze the tentacles. I almost didn’t squeeze you with tentacles."

But only now, Nightmare saw the darkness around them. It was the substance of his negative feelings and the dark energy of the forest. The black skeleton frowned, he guessed that it was what had broken his brother. But is Dream really dead?

"Hay... Dreammy... Dream. You can't just die. Talking about your... feelings. You want to protect them!"

In response, silence. And besides, it’s not just silence, it’s complete silence. Darkness... darkness drowns everything. But it just can’t drown out the Nightmare's thoughts, his worry... worry about brother? About Dream? Or is it just a conscience? ... What? Conscience? Demon's conscience? What kind of nonsense?!

"WHAT IT IS?! I'M A DEMON! I CAN'T WORRY ABOUT... ABOUT... ABOUT DREAM!" Nightmare growled. "... OKAY, okay. Only so that this feeling doesn't bother me! I... can take a look... um... at his soul."

Nightmare raised his hand over Dream's body, and a golden apple appeared in his palm... Dream's soul. His soul... this is what the demon always wanted to pick up and destroy. And now... it was... so close. But... this feeling... the feeling that Nightmare considered long forgotten in his heart... it did not allow to make such vileness, and... to do **IT** at all.

"It seems... it seems to be intact. Then... then he was simply overwhelmed by the darkness. He... needs to be taken to another place." The black skeleton spoke to himself. "Damn! What am I thinking about! Why?! Why am **I** thinking about **THIS**? UGH! WHAT CAN I DO?! Okay... I just transfer him. I-I won’t do anything out of the ordinary."

The skeleton removed his hand, and the image of the soul disappeared. Nightmare only tried to touch the guardian's body, so it began to wriggle in convulsions, and he immediately pulled his hands away, and then stood up. The demon stood for some time, thinking what was the matter, he looked at his hand, then at Dream.

"So... that means. While you're _so_ unconscious, you don't create enough positive aura to keep your soul and body. Hmm..." Nightmare thought.

"Ugh... Well, what should I do now?" He groaned. "How..."

"Hm... Or maybe..."

The black skeleton looked at his tentacle-tails from the back, slightly moving them. He frowned and then sighed. Nightmare tried to raise Dream's body with his tails, it did not seem... to twitch. He dragged him to the village like that. Hm... strange... some deja vu?

* * *

Dream was in very poor condition. But they were able to help him in the hospital. And he slept for a while...

"Agh! Ahh... hah..."

The guardian rose from the bed and screamed in pain. A nurse ran to the scream, jumped to the skeleton and tried to put him back to bed.

"Mr. Dream. You must not get up. Your humerus, spine and a pair of ribs are broken. And also the strangulation by darkness..."

"Huh? Stra... strangul-ation by darkness?" Dream wheezed.

"Yes. Strong strangulation by darkness. This is still amazing... that you are still alive and can still talk. Darkness struck all the bones. Fortunately, the soul did not hurt, although... we could not look at it. But devices showed that she was not affected."

"A? But what... what about the vill-agers? How did I get here?" The guardian spoke, cringing in pain.

"Take it easy. Everything... everything is fine with us. Just some in shock. You should lie and talk less. After this, you will recover for a long time. And about how you got here... We found you on the southern outskirts of the village."

"Ah... F-fine."

The nurse went to the table and began to look at some flasks, and then left. Dream lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling, and then he nevertheless lifted himself neatly.

"They... could not look at my soul. Did he... really take it? Then why... am I still alive?"

The skeleton put his hand closer to his chest, and a golden apple appeared over his palm.

"No... what an idiot I am. Forgot completely. About protection. Ordinary beings can't just look at my soul." The guardian said in relief. " ...And that means that... he did not take it? Hm..."

"Oh... Nightmare. How strange you are."

Dream removed his hand, the image of the apple was gone. He sighed and leaned back on the pillow, and then looked out the window: the sunset was visible there. The clouds were gone, and the sky became clear.

"So... what will happen next... brother?" The skeleton smiled.

Dream's eye sockets began to close. It was a difficult three days of returning the one whom he had been waiting for so long and so much afraid to meet again. But he still loves him. And he will only have to guess what will happen next.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Glitches, glitches, glitches, glitches, glitches... Where can I put a box with glitches?


	4. Error-freeze magician

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An unusual person arrives in the city. Nightmare is interested in him.

He traveled a lot, from city to city. His favorite thing was to conduct research and experiments. It was easy for him, since he was a skeleton. Skeletons, as you know, are pretty hardy. And then he heard rumors about an unusual city(village, according to its inhabitants), and he decided to visit it.

The skeleton entered the Sunapple city only at 13:00 and decided to have a snack in one of the taverns. Since he did not eat in the morning, he went to the first tavern that came across. A 'Shori-Sori' sign hung by the door. The wanderer decided to enter. There were a lot of people, all the tables were occupied, so the skeleton sat down on a chair at the bar. He ordered a brew and stew, and while he was waiting, he examined the local population. But he was interested in one unusual table, in his opinion. Behind him sat apparently tipsy people and a skeleton dressed in a priest's outfit. The wanderer was interested in the skeleton, since apparently he was a servant of some holy place. And what can a person belonging to something holy do in the company of drunk people?

Suddenly, that skeleton got up and headed for the bar, giggling slightly. So that the skeleton would not suspect the wanderer of peeping, he quickly turned to the table and pretended to be considering an assortment of alcohol. The skeleton sat down next to a chair and ordered grape juice. This order was quickly brought, and the skeleton began to drink. Then the wanderer decided to ask a question that had long tormented him.

"Um... excuse me. But... you seem to be serving in some church or temple. And I was curious... why were you sitting at that table... with these drunk people?" He said, nervous.

"A?" The skeleton was surprised and stopped drinking juice, and then looked at the person who asked him.

It was an unusual skeleton in appearance. His bones were all black, the cavity of the eye sockets was red, and the lights had a strange shape, from the edges of the eye sockets along the cheeks passed many iridescent in a blue-yellow gradient stripes, yellow and red colored stripes of fingers stood out from the overall black color of the bones, strange clots of energy and inscriptions "ERROR" flickered all over his body. He was wearing a mantle, a time-worn cloak, pants and a strange-looking shoes. He also had a bag over his shoulder. He also had a bag whose handles went over his shoulder.

"Oh... just... just excuse me. It's just... it's just that I was the first time in this city and decided to look around. I... I... if you find me strange and disgusting for such... a bad deed, you... you can simply ignore my question and... and generally me." The wanderer added, starting to get even more nervous.

"Oh. Never mind. Nothing to worry about." The skeleton smiled at him. "My name is Dream. And yes... I serve in the temple. There is a temple here, called Apple-tree Millia. And by the way, I'm the guardian here. So I’m responsible for almost everything here. And this... that I was sitting over there with those people... It’s just that Lyrme’s dog died and... I just couldn’t pass by and not calm him down. And then they ordered alcohol, and drank a couple of glasses... and we started telling jokes."

"Oh... I see."

"Our city is not big. And I know almost everyone here. I didn’t see you, so at first I was a little confused." Dream continued. "Oh... and it wasn’t... it wasn’t necessary to blame yourself for watching us. Here... here you need to be happy, not sad."

Dream tried to calm the skeleton and put his hand on his shoulder, but then pulled it away when he saw his reaction. Clots of energy located throughout the body of the wanderer began to flicker faster, and they became much more. The eye sockets were filled with a web of white threads moving in an arbitrary direction. And the skeleton himself began to make a strange noise, not like the speech of a rational being in general.

"Ah?! What... what... Did I do something wrong?!" The guardian got nervous. "I... I... I BROKE HIM?! What... "

He was about to start screaming and running to the hospital, but the wanderer had already managed to wake up. Dream was delighted and decided to hug him, but remembering the past reaction, he managed to stop himself from making a mistake again.

"Sorry!" The guardian immediately cried out when the skeleton looked at him. "I... did I say something wrong or did something? You just... I don’t even know what to call it. I... "

"Oh, don't worry." The wanderer reassured him. "It happens sometimes."

"'sometimes'? Does this happen? And... and... what was it?"

"It's just... I don’t really like being touched. I have such a phobia called haptophobia. And I can... so to speak... 'crash'. Such 'crashes' are different. Fortunately, it was short... and there are also long ones. Usually I call long crashes 'reboots'. Um... I'm... this... very strange. Yeah?"

"Oh, nothing. Yea... it's a little strange and... scary if you don't know. But every living being is beautiful in its own way. So nothing." The guardian said, smiling. "Umm... and your name?"

"Ooo... yea. I didn’t introduce myself. And already immediately 'crashed'. Somehow not nice... Um... My name is Error. And I'm a magician."

Dream immediately jumped up in delight, stars shone in his eye sockets. This greatly surprised the black-bone skeleton.

"Wow! So rarely magicians come into our village! It's... so cool." The guardian began. "And you were still upset because of your oddities. You are a magician! It overshadows everything else!"

" ... Tha-nk-s." Error spoke, blushing slightly with embarrassment. " ... And... I'm interested in... why do inhabitants call the city a village?"

"Oh... haha... This is such a long story. It used to be a small village, but soon this place grew. And it began to have the "city" status. But the population still often calls Sunapple - a village. Well, this is not strange... This place can hardly be called a city. Just some kind of settlement, surrounded by a huge FOOOREEEST! Calling it a city... hm... ridiculous."

"Hm... clear..." The black-bone skeleton smiled. "Can I ask you something else?"

"A? Yes, of course. Ask whatever you want. I will help with anything. I'm helping everyone here. So feel free to ask me everything that interests you."

"Your lights... they... changed shape to stars."

"Oh? Well... this is not surprising. I am absolutely delighted! You are a magician... And when I am very happy or delighted, they sometimes become stars. I'm... hehe... the light for everyone here."

"Well, yes... I'm a magician. In general, I like to explore many different interesting things. And so I decided to live in your ci... your village."

"Oh! This is wonderful! I'm so happy! That you will be our new villager!" Dream said, almost panting with delight.

"Well then, I'll probably go. Need to rent a house."

Error got up from the bar table, but... he forgot something.

"Wait!" The guardian called to him. "What about your lunch?"

The black-bone skeleton looked around, looked at the table where his order stood, thought. Then two strange blue balls with crosses appeared in the air, from there blue strings came out and grabbed a plate and a mug. All visitors were stunned, especially the bartender (after all, this was the property of the tavern). But most of all it struck Dream; the stars in the eye sockets became larger and brighter.

"Oh. I will return it all later. I promise."

The magician turned to face the exit, balls with dishes flew behind him. And before he went out, the guardian shouted:

"Somehow, come to our temple! I hope you find him! This is the largest building in the city!"

The skeleton only waved a hand in the end.

* * *

Error rented a wonderful house. So much space... how many experiments can be done here. As promised, he returned the dishes to that tavern, but the owner cursed him anyway. And the skeleton decided to visit his new friend - Dream.

He easily found the temple, as the guardian said, the building is really large. As if it was not a temple built in the city, but a city around the temple, althoough... maybe it is. Error stood at the door of the building for a long time. Honestly, he was nervous. Just rarely visited such places. But the skeleton took all his willpower, sighed and went inside.

A large altar appeared before him. There were high ceilings. But... Herror did not see anyone. He did not know how to find someone, so he just sat on the bench closest to the altar. Skeleton was interested in such an unusual device for him, and he stared. Then the voice of the servant who entered brought him out of contemplation:

"Excuse me, sir. Do you need some help?"

"Oh... I... " Error became nervous. He did not know how to explain that he had come to Dream, so he simply said: "... Um... I wanted to meet with... Dream."

"Oh! With Dream... He is in the courtyard." The servant said and pointed with his finger. "Just go around the altar, and then... I think you'll figure it out for yourself. I still have things to do."

The black-bone skeleton stood up and headed toward the direction that was indicated. He was smart, the magician actually, so he found the entrance to the courtyard. It was a beautiful place... a garden, a fountain, lots of flowers and light. Error made his way into the middle of the garden, where there was a fountain. There he met Dream. The skeleton, as noticed Error, cried out, ran to him and would have hugged him, but remembered his peculiarity.

"Hi, Error!" The guardian smiled at him.

"Ah yeah, hi... Dream."

"Don't be shy. Have a seat." Dream said, pointing to the bench next to the fountain.

"Ah...! O-okay."

Error sat on a bench, and Dream was next to him, but at a certain distance(he remembered his phobia). Well... he came... and now what to talk about? All this silence was annoying, although they were in a beautiful place. Fortunately, the guardian dispersed the tension by starting the conversation first:

"Well, soooo... You are a magician... we know that... Aa... what do you do?"

"Ah... This. I conduct various experiments and research. Find magic items and artifacts. Explore interesting things."

"Mmm... So what brings you to our city?"

"Aa... According to rumors, a strange magical activity was recently revealed here. And some locals talked about recent strangeness. And... besides this forest. His energy. I want to explore this... and also find out why- "

"I forbid you." Dream interrupted him.

"A?" The black-bone skeleton was surprised. "Excuse me, what?"

"I forbid you... to go to the forest." The guardian replied displeasedly.

"But! I... "

"NO BUTS!" Dream shouted, abruptly rising from the bench.

There was a short Error's 'crash'. He was at a loss... why did Dream react so? When the black-bone skeleton woke up, he met the guardian's worried look.

"Sorry... Error." Dream said sadly. "Just. It is forbidden to enter **this** forest. It is very dangerous. And due to recent events, his condition is not fully known. I just..."

"I see." Error also said sadly and sighed.

An awkward silence reigned. The guardian was very disappointed with his behavior... just what happened... unsettled him. But Dream remembered something important that needed to be said to Error:

"Oh... and a temporary law has been introduced... until everything settles down. You can’t be on the streets of the city late at night. Well... Maybe... "

But then some servant called out to Dream.

"Oh! Error... wait for me here. I need to... move away for a while." He shouted before leaving the garden.

The skeleton did not answer, and it was not necessary, the guardian was in a hurry, so he was no longer visible. Error waited... waited a long time... he already going around the entire platform at the fountain. Dream was gone for a long time... and the black-bone skeleton decided to leave, he also had business. But when the guardian came back...

"Oh... Error. There's just... It just took longer than expected. But now... I... We... "

When Dream looked towards the fountain, he did not notice the skeleton nearby. He was a little upset, but realized that Error must not have waited... he might have had things too. The guardian sighed and proceeded to exit the temple.

He decided to take a walk, so he turned around the corner of the first house at the temple. The skeleton came out of the alley and looked at the horizon. There was a sunset... sunset it is very beautiful. He stopped, contemplating this sight. But he was interrupted, something cold passed down his back, like a whip. The guardian turned around and...

"Well hello, Dream." Nightmare said.

"Nightmare?!" Dream cried out.

"Wow... how much noise."

The skeleton walked closer to the demon, summoned the staff at the ready, and frowned.

"Wow-wow! Hold your star horses." Nightmare said, with his hands in front of him in a gesture of reconciliation.

"What?"

"That weirdo..."

"What are you talking about?"

"Don’t fool around, Dream. I'm talking about this... Error."

"And what do you want?"

"He is weird."

"... And what?"

"It is necessary to follow him."

"Why do you need this?"

"DON'T PISS ME OFF!" The black skeleton growled. "Don't you understand? HE WANTS TO EXPLORE THIS FOREST!"

"I... um... So what?"

"HE DOES NOT STOP! I know it... he is very purposeful and smart. He can figure out a lot... Dream... think about it. Oh... and yet your FORBIDDANCE won't stop him. That's for sure."

"Well... well... What do you want from this? ... You hate this place."

One of Nightmare's tentacle-tails headed towards Dream and tightly circled his mouth.

"Here it is also necessary to think about it." Nightmare said, smiling insanely, and then loosened his tail grip and added: "Dream... you should not think so naively. Error... is not a simple thing. You **can't** just forbid HIM something like that. This is not to drive hunters out of the village..."

"A!" The guardian wanted to object, but the last sentence made him think. " ... How did you?!"

"Oh... silly, silly star boy. Did you... think that I just did nothing all this time? Well, yes... I didn’t do anything special. The people didn't kill. But I made nightmares. And I also examined the surroundings of **MY** territory. If you're stupid, then just think that I was walking through the forest, well, a little around the city. And sometimes I heard about your hostility to hunters and your habits of driving them out of the city. But I just can’t understand why you are-"

"OH! CLEAR!" Dream interrupted him. "Let's not discuss each other at the moment. Well... And what do you want me to do?"

"..." the demon was confused for a while, and then said: "Um... I don’t want anything. Just watch as usual... that everything is... mmm... _normal_. Behave as usual."

"Aaa... and what... "

But before Dream could even say something, his brother had already disappeared into the shadows. The guardian stood for a long time in confusion, staring at the place where his interlocutor had recently stood. Then he sighed and decided to return to the temple.

* * *

Two days have passed since Error arrived in the city. He managed to visit several taverns, visit the hospital (he accidentally fell down the stairs), inspect the town hall... and several times came to Dream in the temple. The black-bone skeleton also asked the locals about the forest and recent events. But many of them answered either about the danger of the forest, or were afraid to discuss it, or ran away. And it seemed to Error that Dream... often follow him(but he did not understand what was the matter) and... not only him, but also someone... someone darker and more dangerous than the guardian.

Arriving home, the black-bone skeleton threw the bag on the bed, sat down at the desk and sighed heavily, resting his chin on the table and lowering his hands down to hang out.

"Ahh... what is it? Why... I came here for research, not... not to chill in the city. And also... Dream always watches me, and besides it carefully hides... "

Error took a research diary from a drawer, laid it on the table and opened it. The pages where the researches on the Sunapple city and its environs were supposed to be were empty. The skeleton looked at it and sighed in exasperation, and then closed the damn book and threw it to the edge of the table.

"I CAN'T STAND IT ANYMORE!" He cried out. "Though... Dream is kind and wishes me good. But I can fend for myself. So that... sorry, Dream... but I will disobey you and go to the forest."

Error jumped up, walked over and took something from the closet, grabbed a bag and began to pack up. As soon as he was about to leave, he remembered:

" ... Dream. He will probably again secretly follow me. What to do..."

The skeleton sat down on the bed and thought. But suddenly... a _voice_ told him a great idea.

"OH YES! It's just... BRILLIANT! Thank you! I completely forgot... about it..."

Error jumped up, left the house and headed for the hospital. As expected... Dream, hiding behind passers-by and houses, watched the magician. The black-bone skeleton had a tricky plan for avoiding the guardian’s surveillance. And right now, at the hospital, he is realizing it. Error rushed to the hospital. The fact is that here in the hospital in the lobby on the first floor, you can go to the back yard of the hospital. And the magician wanted to use it. And how lucky he was that everything went according to plan... and one of the staff stopped Dream.

"Excuse me, Mr. Dream. It’s good that you came in... now I don’t have to go to you in the temple." The nurse said. "We are having problems with some magical devices that you recently tested. Can you see what's the matter?"

"Uhh? ... Um... Yes, of course. Only... I need to do something aand... I will help immediately."

Before the nurse had time to answer, the guardian rushed after Error. But he was late... Dream did not find the black-bone skeleton; he was not in the whole yard.

"But how so?!" The skeleton exclaimed displeasedly. " ... What... to do now? Ah... I can’t follow him now. And also I have to help... in the hospital. I just hope nothing happens to him."

The guardian turned and entered the hospital building.

...

Meanwhile, a strange portal opened in some part of the forest. From there came Error ... joy shone on his face.

"Hah! It succeeded! Oh... I'm sorry, Dream, that I fooled you like that. But my purpose of arriving in the city was precisely in research, and not... in ordinary living."

The skeleton looked around, took out a book from his bag and began to write something down there. And then he went further into the forest, on the way writing down observations in a book. He went far, farther and farther away from the village. To be honest, he did not know where the portal had made. The main thing for him was that he was no longer on the Sunapple city streets.

"Hm... here such magic in the air is... strange, or rather... dark?"

Error heard some sounds behind and was wary, and decided to put the book back in his bag so as not to lose. He was not a coward and, if necessary, could protect himself. But, when the magician heard that the creature making those sounds was approaching, his confidence subsided, and anxiety overtook him. And in a fit of fear, Error rushed with all his might as far as possible.

And then the black-bone skeleton tripped over something, but calmed down a little, because he no longer heard the beast. He stood up and tried to step, but something was holding him back. Error turned around: a strange plant clutched tenaciously on his left leg. The skeleton tried to break out of the grip, but with each movement the stalks stuck harder into the bone and hurt. Then the magician decided to call the staff and chop off the squeezing stems from the main plant. So he did, but when he tried to get rid of the vegetation on his leg, nothing came of it. And Error decided that he would deal with this later, but for now, he continued on his way.

The skeleton no longer wanted to be in this forest and wanted to return to the village. Dream was right... this place is too dangerous. Error tried to find a way back to the city, but got lost even more. For some reason it was too dark around, although it was still a day.

And suddenly he noticed some kind of shadow, the skeleton tried to keep track of the movements, but each time did not have time. But a branch crunch came from behind. Error turned around, before him stood a skeleton, but strange: horns on the skull, black wings and many tails.

"W-who are you?" The magician gave a voice, although he was terribly afraid.

"Who am I, you ask? I'm! I'm the greatest dark demon!" The stranger answered. "It's still interesting how **YOU** dared to ask me something in this state, and did not start to run away."

"Aa? A d-demon?"

"Huh? Are you really stupid? In appearance and aura does not remind?" The demon said and, putting his hand to his face, shook his head in disappointment.

"Demon, then... And if you still have not killed me, then you are weak... and I can defeat you?" Error suggested, with a note of nervousness in his voice.

His words angered the demon, or rather... Nightmare... it was Nightmare. He already does him a favor that he did not kill right away, and this magician also shows off! At first, Nightmare did not want to kill the skeleton and so far did not harm him. But Error's insolence pisses off the demon, and he can no longer restrain himself. Nightmare releases his dark aura, black fog surrounds them. And then black tentacles appear from the ground and grab the black-bone skeleton by the hands, forcing him to fall to his knees.

"Oh you, jerk!" Nightmare snarled, getting closer to Error. "Just because I didn't kill you right away doesn't mean I'm so weak. I just wanted to watch you for now."

"'Watch'? If you wanted to watch me, why... did you appear before my sight?" The mage said, still nervous, but more confident. "And you didn’t continue just watching... This makes no sense. You just..."

The tentacles squeezed his hands harder. Although it was just an ability, Error still had symptoms of his haptophobia. clots of magic flickered faster at the places where the tentacles were captured, and the eye sockets were slightly obscured by a haze of noise. Nightmare came even closer and was almost quite close to Error, which also bothered him.

"WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOURSELF?!" The demon roared. "No matter how powerful you are, you are not a hunter or a guardian... You cannot **KILL** a demon. You can only do harm, but not kill... And besides, you can’t harm someone like me!"

"Ha-ah... But you still have not killed me. This is strange. What you say is not interconnected. Call yourself strong... and you’re not doing anything with me. Maybe you just can't kill me?"

Error had to regret of his words, even if he reasoned only out of interest. This really pissed off Nightmare. A fanged predatory smile appeared on the demon's face. And now, instead of killing the skeleton, he will do it right now. Nightmare’s tentacle-tails rushed toward Error and tied around his skull and neck. These touches caused the skeleton to have more and more attacks of his phobia. And now all interest has disappeared, only insane fear has appeared and... noise... noise throughout the body, in the head; consciousness was preparing to leave the magician's body.

"YOU ARE IMPUDENT BASTARD, AS I LOOK... " The demon hissed.

Nightmare came very close and grabbed his victim's chin, preparing to kill him. But... Error 'crashed'. This confused the black skeleton, and the anger and desire to kill disappeared. He saw that this sometimes happens with Error, so he decided to wait. But the black-bone skeleton did not wake up, and Nightmare decided... that it could be...

"As he said there... there are also long 'crashes'." The demon thought. "Maybe it's a long one... because it really was... mmm.. a very strong stress."

Nightmare loosened his grip, and unconscious body fell to the ground. The demon walked around for a long time, lost in thought, and Error still did not recover.

"What to do? Um... I didn’t want to kill him... for now... Yes... for now..." The black skeleton thought. "Well... then I'll take him to Dream."

The demon grabbed the magician's body by his tails and carried him to the village.

...

Everyone knows that Dream is very kind. He is so kind that, in addition to protecting villagers from darkness, he also helps them in their usual routine. So he did it right now... the guardian helped to sort out the arrival of the goods in some store.

So... the owner and supplier went inside to agree, and Dream stayed on the streets to check the composition of the goods. But he was distracted: some pebble hit him on the back of the skull. The guardian looked away from where the blow was, and there met Nightmare. He sat on the edge of the roof, legs dangling, and lay next... Error?

"Night..." Dream still did not fully understand the situation.

Then the black tentacles lowered the 'crashed' body of the magician right in front of the feet of the guardian. Nightmare stood on the roof tile and said:

"Star, get a "gift" from a distant forest."

Dream leaned towards Error and lifted him, and then asked:

"W-what happened?"

"I do not know what was first." The demon grinned. "But I kind of asked to follow him..."

"I followed! Just... he probably figured it out. And he managed to fool me..."

"It turns out you're a bad guardian... You can’t even keep track of one of the inhabitants of the city not getting lost in the south-eastern part of the forest."

"I... WHAT?!" Dream was very surprised.

"Never mind. Just keep on watching that he doesn’t do his..." Nightmare began, twisting his hand in the air. "... _FREAK-THINGS_. And then he will surely die."

The guardian looked at Error, and then he wanted to say something to his brother, but did not have time: when he looked at the roof, the demon is gone.

* * *

I wonder what it feels like falling asleep in one place, and waking up in a completely different place? And now, Error will try this sensation on his own skin. He was lucky to feel this in a better environment. Since he wakes up not in a terrible forest, but in a bright ward of a hospital.

Noise from the eye sockets disappeared and lights appeared. And what the black-bone skeleton saw first was the worried look of the guardian hanging over him.

"D-dream?"

Error rose from the bed, holding his skull, due to a severe headache.

"I... W-what happened to me?"

"D-don't you remember?"

"Hmm... I escaped from your supervision... went to the forest... some plant grabbed my leg... and... um... I kind of... met some demon..." The magician spoke, trying to remember what was. "A! Exactly! Demon! How did I get here?!"

"Umm... We... I... found you on the outskirts of the village." Dream lied.

"Oh... so that's... what he did. But I just don’t understand why he didn’t kill me." Error spoke confusedly, and then he took a deep breath. "You were right, Dream. This forest is terribly dangerous. Uh... I'm sorry to disobey you."

"Never mind. The main thing is that you are alive." The guardian smiled.

"Mmm... how... how is my condition?"

"Oh... about this... your arm bones are a little broken and... on your left leg there were Topmit stems... but we got rid of them." The skeleton started. "Ah... you are lucky that it was not a poisonous subspecies."

"What?!"

"Oops... sorry... This plant also has a poisonous subspecies. But it's good that it was just Topmit."

Error sighed and lay back in bed. There was silence in the room for a while. But the doctor who came in interrupted it. He said that Error could go home. The magician got out of bed, but staggered slightly. After the stems were removed, the squeezed bone was very painful when walking. Dream took a skeleton's bag and suggested:

"Can... I bring you home?" But as soon as he remembered the Error's haptophobia, he rejected it. "... Ah... no. You don't like touch. Sorry... but I can't... "

"Nothing!" The black-bone skeleton interrupted him. "I... can accept your help. I can endure attacks... "

"Oh! Good... I will carry your bag and help you get home."

The guardian went to Error and, holding, helped to leave the ward. It was already evening, and it was necessary to hurry.

...

When they entered Error’s bedroom, the magician flopped onto the bed and sighed in relief. And Dream put the bag next to the bed and also sat on it. A beautiful sunset was visible in the window. The guardian had already decided to go to the temple, but he was stopped by the Error's question:

"Hey... Dream. Where do you live?"

"Oh... um... I live in a temple."

Error thought for a moment, and then asked:

"Why do you live in a temple? You're... sort of... very important here. Why didn’t the villagers build you... for example... a house?"

"Umm..." Dream did not know how to answer. "I... just don't know. I don't want them to strain for me. It's me... I help them and protect them. And besides... I don’t need a house. I already live well in the temple."

"Mmm... "

Error thought this answer was wrong... as if Dream wanted to hide something from him. The magician got up and went to the window, and then asked:

"Uum... how long have you been living here? And how long have you been serving in the temple?"

This question was so easy that Dream even lost his thoughts and immediately gave an answer.

"Oh... well I. You can say that I have been serving in the temple since its foundation." The guardian joyfully answered, but then stopped short.

The black-bone skeleton turned around and looked at Dream in shock, and then said in a trembling voice:

" ...S-since its foundation? ... As I heard... this temple for about 850 years. How can you..."

"Oh... I... I didn’t mean to say that... I... This... Not since its foundation... but... since.. I..." Dream wanted to rephrase.

Error approached to Dream quite close and, despite haptophobia, grabbed his shoulders.

"Dream. What are you hiding? You're good. And I would never lie. And if you said that, then it's true. So tell me more..." The magician spoke seriously.

"I... I..." The guardian was nervous, even blushed. "FINE! I WILL TELL! BUT... but not so close."

The black-bone skeleton let go of the frightened Dream and crouched next to him.

"So... what's your secret?" Error repeated curiously.

"I... ah..." It was difficult for the skeleton to talk about it, he sighed, and then answered: "In general... I'm more than 1000 years old."

Such an answer made Error 'crash' for a moment that worried the guardian. But he quickly returned and looked in surprise at Dream.

"And... no one knows about it? And you look... not so... um... old."

"Villagers think about this a little. And in appearance, I'm about 21 years old. It's just... I still lived when the village was founded."

"So long?"

"Yes. I have experienced all stages of the life of this village... khem... city. And... my longevity is the reason why I live in the temple and do not want me to build a house."

"How is that?"

"Well... just... the house could not survive for so many years. But the temple... the temple was built 6 years after the foundation of the village. And I thought... the temple... it will stand for a long time... and I can live there too. If I protect them, then I can live in a temple."

Error was very tired of everything he had experienced so far, therefore, with a exhausted sigh, he leaned back on the blanket. It was quiet for a while. But then Dream leaned over the magician with a serious look, and then gave a voice:

"Now you."

"What?"

"Now you tell me about your physiological secrets."

"WHAT?!"

"Don't play with me. If I told you that I live longer than the whole world. Then you should too." The guardian concluded with his arms crossed over his chest. "This is... you know... not fair. And I'm especially interested in your soul. More precisely... your emotions are difficult to read and even more difficult in time of 'crashes'. So tell your secret."

"Umm... Did you say... 'read emotions'?"

"Oh... yes. I can read the emotions of living beings. Many people know about this. But... don't deviate from the topic. Tell a secret. And I... I don’t care about your phobia."

Dream came even closer to Error. The skeleton got nervous not only from the possibility of touching, but also because he still had to tell the guardian about himself.

"Fine..." Error surrendered. "... just move over."

The guardian obediently followed the request, and the magician raised his torso to make it more convenient to speak.

"I'm... _rayligh_!" Error hardly said these words.

"You?! Are you rayligh?"

"Yes. Rayligh... and not a simple rayligh. A rayligh of an immortal kind. Therefore... therefore I was not very surprised at your age... it's just... I was struck by such a large number."

"Im... Im... Iimm-mor-tal?! I-I... never met the immortal rayligh."

"Really?"

"Well... I saw ordinary rayligh... but not immortal. H-how old are you?"

"Um... I'm about 580 years old... and I look like... mm... I'm 45 years old... maybe."

"Mmm... we are both weird... right?"

"Well, yes... Aren't you... rayligh?"

"No... I'm not rayligh..." Dream answered, and then his voice became more serious. "But I won’t answer any questions that you might have about this. You see, it hurts to talk about it."

"... F-fine." The magician spoke, slightly upset.

So they sat for a long time in silence, Error was afraid to say something, and Dream was just silent. It was already dark, and the streets were lit only by lanterns, the moon and stars. The guardian calmly got up, sighed, and then turned to the magician and looked terribly indifferent. Error was even frightened, but worry went away when Dream smiled softly and held out his hand.

"Come on. I'll show you something beautiful to... drown out today's trouble." He said.

"Umm... okay."

The black-bone skeleton took the guardian's hand, and a golden teleport ring appeared around them. When the light doused them, Error closed his eye sockets in surprise, but when they teleported...

"Oh? Scared? Open your eye sockets. It was just a teleport." Dream giggled.

"Just unexpected, you know..."

When the magician opened the eye sockets, he saw that they were at the top of the temple. He was a little worried, but then the guardian said to look up. So Error did it and...

"Stars!"

"Yes! Are they really beautiful?" Dream laughed, the same stars shone in his eye sockets as in the sky.

"Well, yes... I just love them."

"Oh! So great! Here are the most... well, I think so... beautiful stars in the Universe!"

They stood and looked at the most beautiful sight: the night sky. And then Error turned to the guardian:

"Mm... Thanks, Dream."

This simple word gave the skeleton a lot of joy, and he wanted to hug the interlocutor, but... could not. Error saw the sadness of the guardian because of this problem, and in a fit of wish to give Dream also the relief from the experience today, he hugged him. So... today ended: two friends in an embrace under the starry clear sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [If you do not understand, then I will tell you. Sometimes in the notes at the end you can find clues about what will happen in the next chapter.]  
> Once I made a friend... it happened at a crossroads.
> 
> \----------------
> 
> I'm tired. And so I decided to change the update schedule: now chapters will be published through each three chapters in the original language, and two chapters at a time.


	5. Crossing with a friend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream has an assistant who soon becomes his best friend.

It was a typical day at the Apple-tree Millia Temple. Dream was busy with the affairs of the servant. He walked along the corridors from building to building, visited the courtyard. Sometimes it seems that Dream is the only servant in this holy place. But this is not so... he just lives here in some way, so he spends most of the day within the temple. And other servants simply cannot constantly engage in temple routine. But today something has changed not only in the temple, but also in the life of the guardian. It will happen unexpectedly, quickly and... pleasantly.

When that event happened, Dream was in the courtyard garden. At that moment, an unusual guest, who was looking for the guardian, looked into the temple. It was a skeleton. He was wearing strange clothes: a white jacket with a fur stripe on one diagonal and another on a black stripe, a black turtleneck with a hood, black pants with stripes of crosses on the edges, black and white sneakers. He had a scarlet cut on his right cheek, the light in his eye socket above the cut was also red, and the other was just white. The skeleton came closer to the altar, he was looking for exactly Dream, but he was afraid to shout out his name for a quick find.

How unlucky he was... at that time there were no other servants in the temple except the main one. Therefore, he had to figure it out and look for Dream himself. He walked from one wall to another, thinking what to do. The skeleton saw the door and decided to try to look for the guardian in the temple, and not wait. He walked along the corridor, but only moved to another building, where Dream was not there either. Then the skeleton went along another corridor, this corridor was open, and through the arches he could see the courtyard.

So... passing along the corridor, he noticed the guardian. The skeleton wanted to call him, but in a fit of joy from finding, he accidentally fell out. Fortunately, Dream managed to hear his screams as he fell and quickly reacted. The guardian created a portal through which the falling skeleton fell not on the ground, but on the bush. Although this is not the best object to prevent injuries from falling, the landing has definitely softened. Dream came to look at the stranger.

"Ooh... Mi-ister Dr-reeam. I-I found yo-ou." He said.

And immediately after that he lost consciousness. Well, of course, who will stand after falling from a great height?... stress and all that. The guardian did not know what this skeleton was doing in the temple and... why he was looking for him. He looked strange. But there was nothing to do, and Dream decided to take him to the infirmary.

...

The stranger woke up only three hours later. Strange... but the guardian could not understand what that skeleton was thinking during sleep: everything was confused. And even more he was afraid, because he did not wake up for a long time.

But, when the skeleton woke up, Dream was very happy. He jumped to a waking stranger.

"O! How great... you finally woke up." The guardian smiled at him. "Child, what did you do here?"

"Ah? The child? Who is the child?" The skeleton was still confused.

"Well... you are a child." Dream replied, feeling a little awkward.

"I am? I am not a child... I am 18 years old." The stranger frowned.

"Oh... I'm sorry... You seemed too young to me. Although you are taller than me, I thought you were still a child." The guardian said, giggling slightly from the expression on the skeleton's face, and then continued: "But... seriously... What were you doing here? And why... was looking for me?"

The stranger quickly jumped from the couch, went to Dream and began to stare terribly at the guardian. This made Dream a little nervous, the skeleton was taller than him, and this behavior scared.

"I am!" the stranger shouted, and then lights in his eye sockets shone brighter with determination and enthusiasm. "I want to become a servant of this temple! Therefore... therefore I was looking for you. After all, only the main one can devote to servants..."

"Aooah... yes..." The guardian replied confused, but feeling relieved. "Only... why do you need this?"

The skeleton hesitated, but he answered:

"I... want to help others!"

"But... there are other ways to help others besides serving in the temple."

"No, you do not understand. I want to not only help others, but also protect those in need. And I know... that you are our guardian. And you give light to others. And I want it too. I want you to be my mentor. And... and... and I want to help you too! This is practically my dream!"

"Wow... that's... a very good goal in life." Dream was surprised at such determination. "Did you say "our guardian"? Are you from this city?"

"Well... I'm only 4 years here. But I always wanted to protect. Especially my family... well... or rather my sister."

"Mmm... yea... protect family... that's good."

Here... the conversation went into the topic of "protection of relatives". Because of this, Dream began to remember his brother, that... that he could not protect him. And from this, droplets of tears came out from the guardian's eye sockets. He will need to add this topic to the list of prohibited. The skeleton in black and white robes saw that tears began to pour from Dream's eye sockets, and was a little upset.

"M-mr. Dream? What happened? I... did I say something wrong?" He asked.

The guardian looked in surprise at the interlocutor. Dream did not understand why he was asking these questions until he accidentally touched his face and felt the moisture, his tears.

"Oh... no... I just remembered something not very pleasant." The guardian said, wiping away the tears, and then smiled softly. "So... you... um... your name?"

"That's Cross! My name is Cross."

"Nice to meet you, Cross."

"And to me twice!"

"Well... let's go. We will choose the right clothes for you and hold the rite of devoting."

They left the infirmary and went to one of the buildings. There was a room with gowns. After all, before conducting the initiation, you need to wear proper attire. The guardian went to the closet and began to pick up the mantle there for the growth of Cross, and then handed it to him. In order not to embarrass the skeleton, Dream turned away. And while Cross was getting dressed, he asked him a question:

"So... did you say do you have a sister?"

"Mm... yep. Elder."

"Clear... "

When the dressing was already finished, they went to the main building to the altar. Dream asked Cross to stand right in front of the altar, and himself climbed into the altar. The guardian stood almost knee-deep in the water, some symbols formed around him. Dream closed his eye sockets and spread his hands...

"Please... Cross. Stand still and try not to be nervous. What will happen right now can excite the magic in your soul... so don’t worry if you feel something strange."

The skeleton obediently complied with the instructions of the guardian, he was calm. Only who really was nervous was Dream. He did not like to do this rite... but this was not because the guardian did not want new servants to appear in the temple, the matter was different. He did not like it, because in the process his soul is visible... and no one should see her.

The rite of devoting has begun. Strange figures appeared on the Dream's palms. Symbols that were previously formed rushed towards Cross and also circled him. The water in the altar and the guardian's diadem began to rise slightly into the air. The bodies of Dream and Cross began to glow, but the body of the guardian exuded more light. Because of the bright light, the skeleton with a cut squinted, but did not move. What happened next is unknown.

When Cross felt that the light was gone, he opened his eyes and saw Dream in front of him. The skeleton still did not realize exactly how this initiation happened...

"Cross, is everything all right?"

"Huh... yes."

"Then let's go to the library."

"Fine."

Dream took Cross's hand and headed for the library. He asked the skeleton to sit down at one of the tables and wait for him. So Cross did it, and the guardian went to the shelves with books. The skeleton with a cut waited a long time and, when Dream had already returned, he nearly choked on air. The guardian held a large pile with thick books, and then put them on the table and exhaled.

"This is... ah... you need to read all this." Dream said, catching his breath slightly.

"WHAT?!"

The guardian grabbed one of the books and tapped it on Cross's skull. Then followed a painful cry of the skeleton.

"Not "what", but necessary. You... you said it yourself: I want to become a servant. So you have to read all this." Dream said indignantly. "Oh... 18 years old. But behaves like a child."

"But actually I said that I want to help people."

"Yes. But you have chosen the path of a servant. So you still have to read it. Although your true goal is different... And you also wanted me to be your mentor. I can be very strict."

"Fine, fine."

"When you're done, come to my room. Well... I hope you find her."

A lot of time has passed. It was already beginning to get dark, but Cross had not yet come to the guardian. It made Dream worried... But why? He just read... nothing bad can happen. It was already dark, even the first star appeared in the sky. And the guardian decided to visit the skeleton with a cut in the library. When he entered there, all the worry disappeared... Cross simply fell asleep. Dream came up to him, the skeleton was sleeping peacefully. It was evident that he had read almost all the books, but did not overpower.

"How to help people - so plenty of determination, but how to read books - then immediately failed." The guardian thought. "Hehe... you are such a child, Cross."

Dream stroked his skull and tried to see what he dreamed. But he couldn’t: either he couldn’t make out, or he didn’t get access.

* * *

Never in Cross's life has awakening been so harsh and... wet. One of the servants doused him with cold water. The skeleton with a cut jumped up quickly and with a misunderstanding on his face asked:

"W-what was that?!"

"Dream asked to wake you by pouring water. He is waiting at the main altar."

And the servant left the room. Cross was still confused, and then looked around. It was not his room... and indeed where did the servant and the altar come from in his house? So... he didn’t sleep at home. Cross sighed and went down to the altar, where the guardian was waiting for him.

"Hi, Cross!" Dream shouted to him when he noticed the approach of the skeleton.

"Oh... yes. Hello, Mr. Dream."

The guardian stood leaning on the edge of the altar. A skeleton with a cut came up to him, rubbing the eye socket with fatigue, and asked:

"Why... did you need to wake up like that?"

"Long sleep."

"Huh?"

"Servants must wake up with the sun."

"What?! How is that possible?"

"Well... I wake up... Okay, not with the sun. But in the morning I'm already here."

"You are always here. You live here. And others obviously need to go."

"Um... well yea. This is probably too strict. But you still need to wake up early and go to the temple. Oh... there are still a few rules, especially for you."

"Rules, especially for me? Am I... some kind of special?"

"Well... to some extent, yes. You are my first and only assistant."

"Really? Mmm... it is a great honor."

Dream gave Cross a piece of paper, it was a list of rules. The skeleton read it, occasionally nodded and muttered something, and then thrust this sheet into the mantle. The guardian went to Cross and said:

"Well... did you understand how special you are? Remember the rules?"

"Umm... yes. It is not that difficult."

"And what was in the books?"

The skeleton with a cut nearly choked. He looked perplexedly at Dream, giggling and smiling nervously.

"Well... more or less." Cross answered.

"Good. Then let's go. I will give you a “tour” of the temple."

It was not just a “tour”, as Dream said. Along the way, the guardian forced Cross to do different tasks, but ... they were really very difficult. They finished only at 15:00. Returning to the main hall, the skeleton with a cut almost fell on one of the benches, exhausting exhausted.

"Just don't fall asleep here." Dream reproached him. "We still have things to do."

"Okay, okay..."

Then Cross rose indignantly from the bench, but he still liked... he liked helping Dream. Next they went for a walk around the city. Going to one of the shops, Cross asked:

"Why do we walk around the city?"

"Oh, do not forget that I am not just a servant, but also a guardian. I have to keep order in the city too. And if someone needs my help, I will just be there."

"I see."

They stopped to rest a bit. But someone called Dream. The guardian could not refuse help and asked Cross to wait for him. Of course, he obediently waited for Dream, but then a great idea came to his mind. Cross went into the store next door and bought something - it was supposed to be a gift for the guardian. When Dream returned, the skeleton with a cut called to him:

"Mr. Dream! Come here... I... here... decided to make you a pleasant one and bought ice cream."

"Ow... that's so sweet of you."

Cross handed over the ice cream, and Dream was about to eat it. But as soon as the keeper just touched his tongue to a cold sweetness, he immediately turned away and looked seriously at the skeleton.

"Cross, what does it taste like?"

"Um... sort of... apple."

Dream immediately handed the ice cream straight to Cross's arms, that the skeleton was at a loss.

"Sorry, Cross... I don’t eat anything related to _apples_."

"Oh... I'm sorry, Mr. Dream. I did not know. I just wanted to make you feel good... because you decided to become my mentor."

"Nothing. I understand. You are good and did not want bad."

After that, the day went fine. Cross again helped Dream in the temple. And he did not even imagine what would happen tomorrow.

* * *

The next day, Cross was determined, he was ready to perform the work of the servant again. But the skeleton was not ready for what Dream had prepared for him. This really shocked him.

"WHAT?!" The skeleton exclaimed.

"Cross... is something wrong? Are you not happy that we will spend time with children? I thought you would be glad."

Cross hesitated slightly, but still replied:

"Not. Nothing. I am glad. Thank you Mr. Dream for wanting to make me happy."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Dream shouted unexpectedly.

Although Cross was taller than the guardian, Dream somehow managed to put him on a bench.

"Stop calling me Mr. Dream!" The guardian began, looking seriously.

"What? I express my respect."

"I don’t need that. Call me just by name. I don’t really like when someone talks to me so formally. Especially if these are my friends."

"F-fine... Dream." The skeleton with a cut said, and then thought over Dream's words, and he realized. "Did you... say "friends"? So... you consider me your friend?"

"Umm... Yees?" Dream said hesitantly, and blushed slightly. "I just... rarely make friends... for some reason. Yes, I believe that you... can be my friend... and you are."

"Oh, that... that so nice. I'm glad to be your friend, Dream."

"Thanks."

The guardian released Cross, and they headed from the temple to the place where the children were waiting for them. Dream happily ran to the kids, and Cross was more detached and clearly nervous. The children were happy to communicate with the guardian and each time they waited for the time to have fun together with him. And then came the next moment when this can happen, only now... Dream was not alone, there was another skeleton with him. Although the guardian brought Kross to have fun, and he pretended to be interested, but he still stayed away from the children. This caused some curiosity.

"Mr. Dream, Mr. Dream... why is the skeleton that came with you so... not happy?" One boy asked.

"Oh? Hmm... I don't know... Maybe just because... uh... because you did not come to play with him all the time. Aand... his name is Cross."

This aroused the curiosity and excitement of the guardian too, so Dream went to his friend.

"Cross. Why are you... so silent?" He asked.

"Ah? I... ah... what should I say? You... we have fun with the kids. But... it seems that it is better for me to leave... anyway, I did not interest them."

"Oh. Nah. You are interesting to them... be silent... haha... funny."

"So how is it-"

"Oh! I have a great idea!" The guardian exclaimed enthusiastically, and stars shone in his eye sockets. "We will go draw. If... you don’t know how to captivate them, then let them captivate you. Come on."

Dream did not give Cross to say anything, grabbed his hand, called out to all the children and they went to some playground near the outskirts of the village. There was a suitable table and view for drawing, according to the guardian. The view was really beautiful... view of the dangerous spooky forest, but still beautiful.

The children sat on a bench around the table. And the skeletons sat between them. Cross was still uncomfortable, especially now that the children were to his right and left. But fortunately for him, they were too busy drawing and did not pay any special attention to the skeleton with a cut. And it pleased, and also... he really liked it, liked to watch how the children were interested in drawing.

But that moment came that Cross did not want to happen. One girl sat closer to him and asked:

"Mr. Cross. Would you help me? I want you to draw a dragon on my drawing."

"Uuh? I... to help you?" Cross got nervous.

"Yes! I want you to draw with me. And then you... look saddened. I want you to have fun."

"Ah... okay."

The skeleton with a cut took a pencil and tried to draw what the girl asked for. She looked at him and smiled, but Cross did not notice it. When he finished the drawing and showed to the girl, one of the children shouted:

"How strange it is! And the drawing, and Mr. Cross!"

Everyone looked at the one who said it, only Cross did not look. The girl examined the drawing... the dragon really looked strange, but this could only be the result of the poor artistic abilities of the skeleton. Dream looked at the boy very seriously, and then said:

"Child, you can not call someone strange without knowing him better."

"But he's really strange, Mr. Dream." The boy continued. "All this time he stayed away from us... and this is very strange. After all... he came with you to chat with us. And also... he's scary... he looked at us scary sometimes. And when we invited him to play, he refused. He is a weirdo freak!"

"Ah! What a word!" The guardian was angry. "Who taught you such bad words?!"

That child behaved very badly, and Dream decided to teach him decency - so a dispute ensued. Other children did not want to participate in this, and they just scattered around the playground and began to play themselves. This argument dragged on, but the guardian was missing something, so he turned to Cross:

"Cross! Express your opinion too, because... he said it against you. Don’t be afraid, you can say everything you think. Children still need to be taught."

But the skeleton did not say anything, he looked down and muttered something to himself. And the girl... because of whom the conflict might have arisen, just sat next with a sad face. But Dream still wanted to stand up for his _best_ friend, so he asked again:

"Cross... don't be silent. You can sa-"

"I DON'T CARE!" The skeleton shouted loudly and furiously.

Cross's right light took the form of a cross, and at the moment his look was very frightening. He looked so terribly at the child and as loudly as the last time, he said:

"I DON'T CARE WHAT THESE ABORTED THINGS THINK OF ME! AND ANYONE ELSE! YES, I'M STRANGE, AND INDEED SCARY! I DON'T EVEN CARE IF YOU HATE ME!"

After that,Cross's gaze was fixed on the girl, and the following words uttered by him were not pleasant.

"ARE YOU GLAD? RIGHT?! I PRACTICALLY SHINE WITH PLEASURE. It was so much fun... It was so much fun, right?!"

Cross got up and sat on a separate bench. The boy, girl, and even Dream were scared and dumbfounded. The boy decided to go play with other children, the girl just sat quietly in her place, and the guardian... sat on the same bench as the skeleton with a cut.

The remaining time passed somehow ambiguously: the children played on their own, sometimes attracted Dream, and Cross simply sat on the bench and did nothing. The girl was upset that the good that she wanted to do to the skeleton turned in the wrong direction. She wanted to cry from this, but held back tears. It was strange, but something made her stop thinking about sad things and look forward at the forest - a beautiful bird was sitting on a branch of one of the trees. And again something arose - the girl crossed the fence of the playground and went to the bird. The bird took off and flew deeper into the forest, and the girl smiled and ran after her. Nobody noticed this.

It is time to pack up. The guardian was very unfocused, so he decided not to count the children. And then they went to the kindergarten. But along the way, one girl suddenly approached Dream.

"Mister Dream!" She said alarmedly.

"Ah, what is it, child?" Dream turned to her.

"I... don't see Milcy."

"Milcy? Milcy... it's..."

Then, already, the guardian noticed the girl’s disappearance. He began to nervously dart around. It was so unexpected, but Cross, quite calmly, as if there had been no recent conflict, asked:

"What does she look like?"

"Huh? Cross? She... I can’t, it's just... The recent conflict... is the girl that..."

"Do not continue. I understood." the skeleton hastily stopped the explanation. "Maybe she was staring at the shop windows along the way. I'll go..."

"I don't think so..." One of the boys said uncertainly.

Everyone looked at him, and then Dream asked:

"Why is this?"

"I... seem to have seen her climb over the fence in the playground and heading to the forest."

"Why didn't you say then?!" The guardian got nervous.

"I just forgot..."

Dream became more worried. He did not know what to do: he needed to take the children to kindergarten, but also to find the lost. But then Cross said in a focused and confident voice.

"Dream, you take the children, and I'll go look for the girl."

"BUT! THIS FOREST IS DANGEROUS! YOU CAN'T..."

"I don't care." The skeleton with a cut responded coldly.

The guardian did not have time to object, Cross was already running to the playground. Dream was baffled, but took control of his feelings and, sadly sighing, took the rest of the children to kindergarten.

Some time passed, they have not returned yet. And the guardian decided to go in search of them. He searched for them in the forest for a long time, but did not find them. Suddenly, the guardian heard a child cry and scream, he immediately rushed to the right direction. At the same time a frightening and calming view appeared before him: the girl was not injured, Cross found her, but he...

The skeleton with a cut stood, panting and leaning on a giant, in his height, a red knife. The terrible demon standing in front of him scattered into particles. Dream stood rooted to the spot, not fully understanding the situation before him. But out of confusion he was brought out by the girl's happy cries. The child joyfully ran to the guardian and shouted:

"Mr. Dream! It's great that you came! It was so scary!"

She firmly grabbed the leg of the skeleton. But at the moment the guardian, oddly enough, the child began to worry much less than the state of his friend in front. Dream did not know what happened here, but he clearly saw that Cross somehow... killed the demon. The guardian did not know what to say. Silence reigned, which was sometimes interrupted by the sobs of the girl. Nevertheless, Dream did at least something: he tried to calm the child.

"Don't Cry. Everything has already passed. Things are good. No one will touch you now. Now we will take you home. Just don't cry, okay?"

"Okay."

"Good. Then I... we... um... Cr-"

Suddenly, the skeleton with a cut was too close and looked intently at them. It is not known what was on his mind, his actions were very strange and the guardian could not understand his feelings now.

"How is Milcy?" Cross said calmly.

"Ah? Um... Milcy?" Dream confused.

"Kid."

"Oh... she... is fine."

"So great." Cross smiled unexpectedly cheerfully, and then turned to the girl. "You're okay, right? He hasn’t managed to hurt you yet?"

The child did not answer and only buried himself tightly in Dream's clothes. Such a reaction very upset the skeleton with a cut, he just walked past and said coldly:

"If everything is really good, we can take her to her family."

The guardian was bewildered and looked at Cross for a long time. Then he just led the girl, holding her hand. And Cross followed them. When they finally reached the kindergarten, they were greeted with joyful cries by the children, caregiver and parents of the lost girl.

"Hooray! Hooray! You finally came." Kids shouted, rejoiced.

"Thank you for being able to find her alive." The caregiver was happy.

"Thank! Thank you guardian! Thanks for finding her!" Parents sobbed, hugging their daughter.

Dream, of course, was glad that it was all over, but one thing still upset him. Nobody paid attention to Cross, everyone thanked the guardian, although he did **nothing** at all. After thanks, Dream and Cross returned to the temple. It was evening. On the way, Cross behaved quietly, and the guardian did not dare to speak with him. Already in the temple, a friend's question greatly puzzled Dream.

"Can... can I spend the night in the temple?" Cross asked, stepping a little closer to the altar.

"..." Dream was at a loss, but still answered: "Huh... yes... you can. Everyone in need, servant and victim can spend the night here, if it is so important."

"Then I will go to the room where you took me on the first day."

"Umm... fine. But... it's too early to go to bed."

Cross said nothing, went to the stairs to the left, and before leaving the area of vision, he said:

"Enough for me today. I don’t want to do anything today. And... don't visit me before going to bed."

When the skeleton with the cut was not heard at all, the guardian sighed in frustration, flopped down on the bench and practically burst into tears, covering his face with his hands. The room was filled with sadness, not Dream's, but Cross's... and the guardian felt it. His idea was terrible, and it was depressing.

* * *

The day was rainy, so Dream did not go out. But this did not bother the guardian, he was worried about Cross. He still did not leave the room, and Dream did not dare to visit his friend. But it was already ten o’clock, the ministry had already begun long ago. And now the guardian had every right to disturb Cross, as feelings are one thing, and duties are completely different.

Dream went to the room where his friend spent the night, sighed and knocked. But no answer came. Then he decided to enter.

"Cross, I understand. Yesterday was a bad day, but min-" Dream started a conversation on the go.

The guardian looked at the bed: the skeleton lay with his face buried in a pillow, one hand hanging from the bed and touching the floor, the wrinkled blanket was also randomly located and hanging down, touching the floor. When Cross heard Dream's voice, he only muttered something slurred into the pillow. Then the guardian came closer and turned him over.

"Cross, you need to go to the ministry. Even if your mood is not very good, then this is not a reason..." Dream started.

"Here you are wrong." Cross interrupted him. "I read. If the servant does not have the mood for the proper performance of his duty, then this is officially an occasion for a day off."

"A!" The guardian wanted to argue, but could not, as it really was true. "But... Cross. All the same, you can’t sit in the room all day."

The skeleton said nothing, rolled over on his side against the wall and cringed. Dream only sighed in frustration, sat down beside him and continued:

"Well... what should I do?"

"Nothing. Just leave. You will not help. This... I want to be alone and I want nothing."

"You can’t be so miserable because of a trifle. You still saved the girl, and this is more important."

" 'trifle'? What do you understand about this?! EVERYONE LOVES YOU! You don’t understand anything in my sadness, you..."

These words struck like lightning, they are very hurt Dream's feelings. Cross did not understand how much it hurt the guardian, he did not know about his past, did not know.

"Ah... I'm sorry, Dream... I didn’t want to. Just... just leave." He continued, realizing his mistake.

"Then i will leave." Dream replied indifferently.

The guardian rose abruptly, walked quickly to the exit and slammed the door before leaving. Cross turned to the sound of the door closing and then sighed.

"He... really left. Well, okay..."

For a long time, the skeleton was left alone in the room. No sounds were heard from outside the temple walls, so Cross did not know that it was raining outside. It was quiet, not a single sound. There was loneliness and detachment, but he achieved this: to remain alone today. But... after the visit of the guardian, this feeling began to oppress, all because Dream brought with himself bright positive feelings, and they were still in the air. But this was not enough for Cross to want to get out.

But Dream still came back and brought something with himself. The skeleton did not even look at him. Then the guardian came closer to the bed, something with a crash fell to the floor.

"Come on. Turn to me. I... I will do everything for you to go out, or at least become happier." Dream said.

Cross turned and... was surprised. The guardian stood and held an apple in his hand, and at the feet lay the same fruits.

"Look. I... will eat apples. Ahahaha... BUT YOU JUST HAVE TO STOP BEING SO SAD!" Dream exclaimed.

The guardian bit off a piece of the apple, grimaced, but continued to eat the apple until he ate it. Then he fell to his knees and began to eat more apples. He ate two more apples, and then leaned over to Cross and said:

"Please, Cross. Stop being so sad. I do everything to stop it. I know... it might hurt. I can’t understand much. But I know that it is necessary to get out of such situations, this can lead to worse. Ah... please."

Cross wanted to say something, but suddenly Dream jumped up, covering his mouth with his hand, and then completely ran out of the room. Now it’s clear why the guardian does not eat something related to apples. And Cross was left alone again, but... Dream's recent presence makes him feel more and more oppressive. But it ended a lot faster than before. The guardian came back, sighed, looked at the apples in disgust, and then, going to the head of the bed, rested against the wall and began to slowly slide down. When he was already on the floor, turned to Cross and asked:

"What was wrong with that? Just... tell me everything you feel. I... and I will try to solve the problem."

"Noo. I won't. This is... I can’t. Why... why do you need to hear about my problems?" Cross looked at Dream.

"What... what a strange question? You're my best friend." Dream smiled. "You can talk about your worries. This will make it easier. And I will try to solve it."

"Huh... fine." Cross sighed. "This... this happens often. I know. I'm scary. Many say so, and I don't deny it. But... I do not like when it is very much discussed. And yet... it was really offensively. I don't pursue fame. But when you are so rejected... it hurts and offends."

"How is it rejected?"

"SO! THIS OFTEN... often happens. I do good... but for some reason they don’t accept it... or there is someone nearby who is thanked in their place. I... I thought that they would accept my goodness when I will be a servant. But this is not so. I have already visited many similar places, I was a policeman, and a volunteer, and a little in the hospital, and in kindergarten. ALL. ALL THE SAME."

"Therefore... ah. Cross. It hurts so much... I understand."

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND ANYTHING!" The skeleton shouted angrily. "THEY THANKED YOU! NOT ME! AND GENERALLY NO ONE LOVES **ME**! EVERYONE LOVES **YOU**! GO AWAY FROM ME!"

"Wha.. FINE! I'LL LEAVE."

And again. He left again. This darkness began... began to oppress again. Cross ruined everything, but now he was very furious to realize the whole depth of his rash acts. But this is not over - there is still something that can _illuminate_ the situation.

Dream got a plan. He went to that girl’s house and asked her parents for a short time to let her take a walk. They agreed. The guardian took the child by the hand and they went to the temple, and along the way he asked her questions:

"Why didn’t you thank him?"

"Oh? Mr. Dream... who are you talking about?"

"About Cross."

"Oh... but... I do not understand."

"He saved you, but you just left him. And all thanks went to me undeservedly."

"But... he's scary."

"It’s hard to disagree... But this is not a reason. He is hurt and offended. And me too."

"And you too? ... He was just scary then. Therefore, I was confused and scared."

They have already approached the temple. Dream stopped and crouched in front of the girl.

"But he saved you!"

"I understand... and I am grateful."

"Then say it to him. Because of yesterday, he was very upset."

"Very? How much?"

"I tried everything."

"Hmm... okay. I am truly grateful."

The guardian brought the child to the temple and put him on a bench. Then he used his teleport, and a skeleton with a cut fell out. Cross fell face down on the floor, muttered something, and then raised his head and began to shout:

"DREAM! What was it?! Is this your portal or what? And why did you do this..."

"You wanted it. You got it." Dream said sharply, and then called with a gesture to the girl that was sitting on the bench to come closer.

The skeleton was still confused, so after the fall he still did not stand up, and at the moment he was just sitting on the stone floor. Then Cross looked ahead, a child sitting on the bench caught his eye. The girl jumped off the bench and went to the skeleton.

"Thank! Thank you very much, Mr. Cross, thank you for saving me!" She said loudly with a smile on her face, and then tightly hugged Cross.

From such fast-paced events, Cross was a little lost in thought. He looked at the child and, without noticing it, tried to hug in response. But at the last moment the skeleton came to his senses and drew back hand. Fortunately for Cross, neither girl nor Dream noticed his unconscious impulse. The guardian stood nearby happy for a while, but then his joy seemed to have vanished, it seemed that he was slightly upset. Dream came closer, leaned slightly over them and calmly and quietly said:

"Perhaps you need to go home already. Parents will worry."

The girl turned around, nodded and took the guardian by the hand. They left the temple, leaving Сross himself to understand what had happened, to reflect on his feelings. He remained at one with himself... again. When Dream returned, he was met by the frightening look of his friend, he grabbed the guardian by the shoulders.

"DREAM! WHAT DID YOU DO TO MAKE HER LIE LIKE THAT?!" Cross shouted.

"What... 'lie'? What... What the... WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU SAYING? HOW! I-I!"

Dream pushed him away with all his might and began to drive Cross back to the altar with a serious and angry look.

"DO YOU THINK I COULD GO FOR THAT?! WHO DO YOU CONSIDER ME TO BE?! I WANTED TO CORRECT MY MISTAKE! I... I... I DID IT FOR YOU!" The guardian, uttering each word, moved more and more toward the skeleton, and he trembled backed away.

Dream pressed Cross to the altar plane, grabbed the edge of the mantle and lowered his gaze down, hiding the tears emerging from the eye sockets. They were in this position for several minutes, it seemed that time froze, there was silence. But the guardian interrupted this silent moment.

"I... You are my best friend. You are the only... who is truly a **best** friend to me here. I have no one else. No one... else..." Dream said in a trembling voice, barely hiding the concern and sadness.

The guardian can no longer hold on, seething feelings and sadness press on him, almost corroding from the inside. Suddenly his grip loosened and Dream began to fall, but Cross managed to catch him. He looked at his friend; bright golden lights sparkled in the guardian's eye sockets.

"Dream... sorry. I just thought that she said this not sincerely. Many are afraid of me, even just come up to speak. Therefore... I... I'm sorry."

Then Cross loses control over his feelings, tears flow down his cheekbones, and he clings harder to Dream. At that moment, the guardian comes into a more or less conscious state, sees Cross in front of him and begins to soothingly pat him on the back.

"Just like a child. That's okay... okay. Just. You're already fed up with this. But... friends are needed to calm each other and help to sort out feelings." Dream spoke softly and quietly.

This slightly relaxed Cross. They slowly got up from the floor and headed to the courtyard to spend the rest of the evening in peace. Both skeletons were exhausted, so they just silently looked at the streams of water erupting from the fountain and shining from the sun. It was so relaxing and soothing. Cross finally calmed down, but an unexpected thought made him frown, and then he turned to Dream.

"Dream, why you never call children by name?" The skeleton asked not loudly and slightly hesitantly.

"Oh... this." The guardian said calmly, but there was a little dislike and concern in his voice. "It hurts me to remember this, but I'll tell you. I... I just couldn't stand it anymore. Previously, the risk of a child dying was higher, and this happened more often. And..." The skeleton became more nervous and began to cringe, hugging himself. "Because of this, I don’t want to remember _everyone’s_ name... at any moment everything can end. And I will continue to remember, and this will make me sick."

"Oh... I'm sorry, Dream. I am a problem for you, for everyone. Uh... I just ruined your mood these days."

"No! Cross." Dream flinched slightly. "You are my friend... the _best_ friend ever. You are special. I see it. And... it seems to me that you can become a good friend to someone like me."

Cross gently and calmly hugged him. It was a wonderful, calm and sweet time, though... it all started not so well. Now it's over. It was a complete mess, but the day ended perfectly. But even if it is so... Dream has no idea how terrible these days were for his brother. But how did he know if Nightmare was always so closed and squeamish to heart-to-heart talk. Soon, more and more problems and anxieties will fall on the shoulders of the guardian. In the meantime... it remains to rest from everything along with Cross in the garden.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **~~** Feelings are so weird. They change you, change so that you can’t even imagine such a thing. And in the case of _the darkest creature_ , they simply freeze not only him, but also the one to whom the heart was given _completely_. With answers at the end. **~~**


	6. A soul born out of darkness

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nightmare has problems with feelings. Dream gets an unusual and small surprise.

Oddly enough, these days it was calm. Error no longer meddled in the forest, but still tried to conduct his research. Even Nightmare began to appear less with his nightmares, which was quite unusual for him. As early as four days, the ban on staying on the street at night was lifted. Everything was normal, too normal... And what will happen today will change everyone’s ideas and lives. They don't even imagine that this will be the most unusual day for them.

Dream just walked along the upper corridor with arches, enjoying views of the courtyard garden and city views. But suddenly something black flew into the arch directly into the guardian and knocked him down. When the skeleton recovered from the shock and looked at the intruder, he was very surprised. It was a Nightmare. Well, what did he need then? Why did he fly right into the temple... firstly, it is dangerous for him - he is a demon, and secondly, it is suspicious. But from the expression on the demon's face, it was clear that it was something urgent. So urgent that he did not even care about his health. So it was ... the demonic body was practically smoking due to the effects of light magic. And in order not to spend all his energy, the black skeleton hid some attributes: horns, wings, tails, and even the mucus covering the right eye socket disappeared. That's all that Nightmare could remove in his demonic form, he did not intend to get rid of the liquid covering the whole his body.

"I NEED HELP, DREAM!" The demon cried out in all his voice.

"What?" Dream was still a little shocked. "Wait. Wait a minute. Let's discuss it in my room. It’s too... um... strange for **me** to talk with **you**."

Nightmare nodded in agreement, and the guardian led him into his bedroom. The demon was never in his brother's room, and it seemed to him that It was too small, but this was not the main thing right now. Dream sat on the bed and invited Nightmare to do the same, but he refused. In such position their conversation passed.

"So... What do you need my help for? You took such a chance and came to the abode of all the light in this city..." Dream started calmly.

"I JUST DON'T KNOW HOW TO HANDLE THIS!"

"What? Nightmare, don't play with me in riddles. I can’t understand what happened, according to your restless cries."

"Oh... um... okay." The demon sighed. "The fact is that... I began to feel a strange feeling."

"What feeling?"

"I MYSELF DON'T KNOW! I thought you would help me understand this."

"Then tell me."

"Fine. It all started... after the advent of this _Error_." The black skeleton gritted his teeth, he did not want to remember this person, but had to. "I just don't understand. I don’t remember when exactly it appeared, but obviously not from the first days of his living in the village. But now... I feel something strange. Ugh... I can't..."

"Nightmare, please. You came here for my help. But if you don’t tell me **everything**... I can’t help you. You know that yourself, right?"

"Ah... yes. Okay. Then next... Something strange began to draw me to him. I don't know. I don’t want that myself. But when I meet him, look at him, every time he seems to me beautiful and best. And if I want to harm him, send a nightmare, somehow touch, I just can’t do it. Even when there is a wonderful chance to do it, my hands, my abilities, none of this moves." Nightmare grinned irritably. "And besides... The most annoying - this feeling is much stronger than me. I-I tried to replace it with something else... contempt or dislike. But... during the replacement process, this feeling again took control of me, and I dispelled the rudiments of the spell. Well, you understand... understand what it is?"

Instead of an answer, Nightmare heard the loud laugh of the guardian. The demon stared at this sight, bewildered and irritated: he came for help, and his own brother just laughs.

"WHY ARE YOU LAUGHING?! I came for your help, brother! And you are laughing. I-I'm not kidding!" Nightmare could not stand it.

What Dream heard made him stop. For the first time since the Nightmare's return, he heard that he calls him brother. This responded with warm feelings in the guardian's soul, bright memories of the past. But there was no time to get lost in good memories, now... his brother needed help to sort out his confused feelings. Dream got up and walked closer to the demon.

"Night... I'm sorry, but I seem to understand what kind of feeling you feel." He said gently with warmth in his voice.

"Well and what is it? Why did you have to laugh... what kind of feeling is it that amused your star mind?" Nightmare was still annoyed by such a reaction from Dream.

"This feeling... Nightmare, you **fell in love** with Error!" The guardian said with a wide smile, barely holding back new outbursts of laughter.

Such a statement made the demon extinguish the red lights for a moment. It was so ridiculous, so annoying, so wrong... _**How could someone like him, a demon, fall in love?**_

"Dre-eam... What the he-ell are you ta-alking about?" Nightmare spoke in a rattling voice, he barely restrained himself so as not to release all his weapons. He couldn't - he was afraid of the consequences of using abilities at the epicenter of light energy. After a short pause, the demon continued: "How can I, a demon, the embodiment of evil, _FALL IN LOVE_?! MAYBE YOU GOT SOMETHING WRONG?"

"Huh! You are so controversial. You came for my help, and when you received the desired, you reject. What do you think demons can't fall in love? They can... They are not things, they are still living beings like everything that breathes, eats and exists."

"BUT I DON'T LIKE IT!" The black skeleton growled.

"You're wrong again. You like it. You just don't admit it."

"What? How can this be?!"

"In your words, this feeling is stronger than you. But It's not feeling is stronger than you... but you subconsciously adored it, accepted it. But due to your character and contradictions, you still did not feel your inner love for it." Dream said softly, smiling. "You always... always dreamed of being loved. You said the people hate you. My love was not enough for you... And now you feel love for someone, but you reject... and more and more you move away from what you want. Maybe... are you just afraid that this cannot be mutual? Then your rejections are right, it will hurt... if you love and you are not."

"I... But. Can you take this feeling from me?" Nightmare asked with a sense of hope in his voice. "I know you can take positive and negative feelings. A-and... love is a positive feeling, right?"

The guardian was afraid to upset his brother, but he could not fulfill his request, not only because he did not want to, but also because he simply could not do it. And the last point is what Dream was afraid to upset. But he wanted to ease the tension, so he came closer to the demon and put a hand on his face.

"Sorry, brother. But it doesn’t work like that." The skeleton said in frustration.

"Why is it? I don't understand." The demon said. To be honest, he was annoyed by the shameless intervention of the guardian in his personal space, but he did not show signs of this, because he clearly knew that the answer would not be pleasant.

"I'm not just taking feelings away. Yes, I can take it away. But more often than not, I suppress them. And love... You're wrong, love is not a positive feeling. This is a neutral feeling: it is both positive and negative, and not at all related to these two categories." Dream explained, and then looked away. "Of course, I can suppress your love. But if it is as strong as you say, then as soon as you see Error again it can be aroused again."

"And... what am I to do now?"

The guardian removed his hand from his brother’s face, stepped aside and looked out the window, but then still suggested:

"I... don't know. Declare your love for him."

"You are what?! Are you completely crazy? How do you imagine that?!" Nightmare immediately began to swear.

"And what do you suggest?" Dream replied calmly. "If you do nothing further, then this feeling will just corrode you from within. I gave you help. Helped to understand feelings. And what to decide with this is your choice. I only advise. And besides, I'm not you, you yourself solve your problem with love."

"Ah... okay. You're right. I need to deal with this myself."

The demon decided to leave already, but he was stopped: the guardian clutched his hand and did not let go, did not even look at him. Dream held his hand for a long time and did not say anything, which was very annoying to Nightmare, he could no longer endure and decided to break out of the grab, but...

"Wait." The skeleton said quietly.

Then the guardian already let go of his brother’s hand, went to the bedside table and started digging there in search of something, but the black skeleton decided to wait. Soon, Dream pulled out a casket and went to Nightmare. The demon looked at it puzzled. He did not know what was in the casket, and did not even know how the contents will amaze and confuse him. The guardian opened the casket, pulled out a diadem with the sign of the moon, and he dropped the container for this accessory. His eyes were fixed only on the diadem.

"Dream, what do you want from me? And... why did you show me **this** thing?" Nightmare spoke viciously.

"Take it."

"WHAT?! I won't take it! And especially I won’t wear it!"

The demon backed away, he did not want to deal with this either. But he didn’t have time: Dream held out his hand with the accessory and shoved it almost into the Nightmare's face, while he himself lowered his head down.

"Please... ta-ake this. I can’t take it anymore..." He tried to at least say something, but sobs were still heard through the words.

"Dream..."

"I BEG YOU! TAKE **IT** FROM ME!" The guardian cried out.

Without saying anything, Nightmare abruptly grabbed the diadem from Dream's hands and left, leaving him alone. The guardian could not stand it, fell to his knees and soothingly hugged himself, more and more starting to cry.

Sunset is a wonderful moment. But at the moment it is not so joyful, some are now thinking about the past, which is very sad. Nightmare sat on top of a tree, looking into the distance. Then he looked at the diadem he was holding in his hand and frowned.

"Dream, why? WHY DID YOU KEEP THIS FOR SO MANY YEARS?" The demon growled to himself.

He squeezed the accessory tighter, almost breaking it, his gaze were getting angrier and angrier.

"WHY DID YOU TORMENT YOURSELF FOR SO LONG? WHO BENEFITS FROM THIS?!" Nightmare was furious.

He jumped up and decided to throw out the damn diadem, but stopped, raising his hand in the air. Tears began to drip from his eye sockets.

"This .. this thing is just saturated with a negative aura... Why... why... It ruined you every day, every moment of your life... Then why?"

Nightmare abruptly sat back, crouched and hugged his knees, still holding the object in his hands. He did not understand this decision of his brother, and it _hurt_ , it _hurt a lot_. Nightmare burst into tears, there were so many tears, after returning, he never cried like that.

* * *

The next day was difficult. Nightmare decided not to hesitate and find out his feelings with the magician today. But... it was necessary to find a moment when this could be done. And he found it. Then Error collected extracts on the outskirts of the village. It was the best chance to do **THIS**. The demon appeared behind the black-bone skeleton, harshly grabbed him and transferred him through his own shadow portal to the southwestern part of the forest. After, so that Error would not “crashed”, he let him go. Nightmare, to be honest, was very nervous. He did not know how to do this, never delved into this, and now he will have to make his first declaration of love in his life. How not to be nervous here.

When the magician appreciated the situation, then he noticed a demon whom he had already met and whom he no longer wanted to see again, he began to back away with quick steps. The black skeleton immediately noticed it and in an impulse to stop the escape, he grabbed him with tentacles. Nightmare did not know at all what to say, how to act. This put pressure on him, and from this the grip of his ability became stronger and stronger, making pain to the one he loved. And in Error's head came various mixed and illegible thoughts, but only one prevailed among them, which was a manifestation of fear. But suddenly the skeleton flinched at the fact that the demon began to say something.

" **I!** " Nightmare started, but his voice was too loud, too scary and was not at all like the one that was supposed to be in a declaration of love.

_He? What he?! What does he want to say by this? I don't understand! I don’t understand anything... why did he grab me like **THAT**. Is he really..._

" **YOU!** " One more word before the decider.

_He... me. What is he me? HE WILL KILL ME?! YES! HE WILL KILL ME! THIS IS THE ONLY ASSUMPTION, JUDGING BY HIS BEHAVIOR! Oh... NO! I WILL DIE! AND EVEN NOW I THINK ONLY ON THE RATIONAL DECISION! AAAA!_

" **LOVE!** " The last word.

At the moment, the mind left Error's head instantly and for a long time. Such an ending was not in his thoughts. He did not expect this, did not expect at all... it was strange and wrong. But the magician did not understand anything, and his own body itself decided how to cope with such an influx of questions and feelings. It decided for him... that it would be time to go for a long, loooong "Reboot".

When Nightmare noticed that his love was no longer able to think, he certainly got angry, but it wasn’t so scary. His tentacles let go of the body. And the demon just started yelling, he shouted some inarticulate curses that if there were any demons or animals nearby, they would want to kill themselves so as not to meet the owner of such a voice.

After some time, Nightmare still calmed down to such a state that he could adequately assess the situation. He went to the magician's body and noticed the inscription “REBOOTING...” on top and a slowly filling scale underneath. The demon did not know what this means, did not understand this word, but guessed that when the strip reaches the end, then Error will wake up. Now... Nightmare didn't know what to do now. But, when he was so close to his love, he clearly understood that Dream was right - Nightmare really was in love with this weirdo, and oddly enough, he liked it.

And the only thing that came to the mind of the black skeleton was to look at the magician's soul. He crouched beside him, stroking Error's skull slightly and smiling. But then he lifted his hand over his back, but... the image of the soul did not appear. Nightmare was surprised, but decided that it could be a protection. Then he used the "keys" spell, but that didn't work. He could not break through the protection. It was also surprising, since the protection must have disappeared, because its “keys” are based on the ability to emotions, and all living beings should experience them, and someday in life they should also experience negative ones - this cannot be avoided. But Error's protection was stronger than the demon's “keys”. Due to the curiosity and feelings of falling in love, such perseverance infuriated Nightmare. But he had no choice but to wait...

And again Error falls asleep in one place, and wakes up in another. But at the moment it was “Reboot”, and he could forget a lot. The magician woke up, moaning, yet the headache constantly makes itself felt in such situations. The black-bone skeleton lifted, holding his hand to his head, and then looked to the right. He met his gaze with a skeleton unfamiliar to him, with red lights burning in his eye sockets. Error dimly remembered what had happened. In his memory there was only the image of a demon who grabbed him, and then... everything is covered with clots of energy and noise.

This skeleton smiled at him, and the magician did not know why. But suddenly he recognized in that who was near that demon. In fear, Error staggered back, and then said in a trembling voice:

"Y-You're... that demon! Wha-at do you w-want from m-me?! KILL?!"

"Wha..?" Nightmare was surprised and upset at the same time. "D-do you remember what I told you?"

Although the magician was scared, he still answered, shaking his head in denial. This answer very upset the Lord of Dark senses, tears poured from his eye sockets, and he turned away so that this could not be seen. Error did not understand such a reaction... Did he tell him something important? Didn't he want to kill him then? Then... what did he want?

"Uuh... did you tell me something important? It’s just... after the “Reboot”, the memories and sensations that caused it can be erased or blocked. Can you... umm... repeat it?" The magician started.

"Huh? Repeat it... hah..." Nightmare smiled hysterically and giggled slightly nervously. "I... I just confessed my love to you... hah... but it doesn’t seem to be mutual... Ahah... You don’t even remember about it. It hurts so much. Do you know what else hurt? NO! YOU DON'T KNOW! And the most painful thing is... hah... I can’t hurt you, I can’t... haha... because I love you... I can't... Hahahaha!"

"Oh?"

Error extinguished his lights, there was still a small cover of noise in the eye sockets. And Nightmare thought that he “crashed” again, it caused him another crazy and hysterical laugh, and he leaned back. But it wasn’t a “crash”, the black-bone skeleton only thought... and when he returned from thought, before him appeared a scene of a crazy, in love and poor skeleton. Although Error did not know what to think about this. He himself did not even understand the reciprocity of these feelings, but he also understood that this was more than mutual, but in completely different ways. The magician got up and walked closer to the Lord of Dark senses.

"Ughk... I think... it's still mutual." He said.

"Uh?" Nightmare calmed down a bit.

"I... don't fully understand this. But... I think I had a similar feeling, but then I did not realize it. After... the first time we met. There was some kind of spark even then. And after... I constantly felt your presence. It was at the same time scary and... nice, I liked it. And I don’t understand this either. This is strange."

"Yes. This feeling is really strange... it is neither good nor bad. But I don’t care... what that feeling is. I accepted it. I love you."The skeleton gave a chuckle. "And... I want... I wish you to accept this too."

"Well, yes... I... yes... I love you." Error was a little confused. "Uh... um... what is your name?"

"My name is Nightmare." Nightmare answered, smiling.

"Well... do you know my name? Huh..."

"Of course, silly."

So they sat on a cliff and looked at the horizon at sunset. Calm, fresh air, the beauty of nature, it was all so beautiful, so enlightening consciousness and thoughts. It was wonderful, but ... one strangeness did not go out of Error's head.

"Um... Nightmare. Can I ask you a question?" He asked.

"Aaa... well ask."

"If you are a demon... why then Dream, the guardian here, did nothing to you?"

"Huh... um... Well..." Nightmare hesitated a little, pondering the question. "He couldn't have done anything. I’m too strong demon for him..."

"Oh..."

"He’s also my twin brother... Therefore, I think he wouldn't even da-"

"BROTHER?! TWIN?!" The magician was surprised, almost fell.

"Uuuh... oops... maybe it's too... mm... sudden?"

"Oh! It's just... yes... sudden. I can’t even imagine such a thing. You are both twins, you say, but you are not alike. You are also a demon... but he is not."

"We are not alike? Haha... We are very similar... by appearance. Maybe you just did not compare and therefore can not find a similarity. A-and what about the demon... well, I was not born a demon."

"Oh, clear. Mmm... well, yes... If you are in the normal form, then yes... there are some similarities."

Error wanted to ask about why Nightmare was a demon, but realized that this was too much a subject... and if they are twins with Dream, maybe he hate to talk about this too? They sat there for some time, and then Nightmare took the magician home.

* * *

For two weeks now, Nightmare and Error have become a couple. For all this time, they came closer to each other much closer than when they were still under the influence of a sense of love, their first love. They spent time together: kissing, hugging, strolling through the forest, talking. But they carefully concealed it. Nightmare even allowed his love to visit his castle. Yes, this demon had a castle, he is a strong demon. Only his castle was hidden from ordinary sight, no one could find it or even get into it, and besides, he was constantly moving through the forest, or it was clearer to say it was everywhere it was everywhere, but more in the dark part.

Error, of course, was in the house of the Lord of Dark senses, but Nightmare himself never visited his boyfriend’s house. It was not clear why this was so. Maybe the thing was that the demon was simply not interested in this, he was fine anyway. But then one day the magician decided to invite his love to his home for the first time. Nightmare hesitated a little, but nevertheless agreed.

_"Oh... Error. Do you want me to visit your home?" Nightmare did not expect such an offer from his boyfriend._

_"Yes! I was in your dark castle. Time for you to visit mine. Or are you not happy about this?"_

_"No, of course not. I am glad to come to where everything belongs to you... oh... It means yes. I accept the invitation."_

_"Well then fine."_

_The black-bone skeleton opened his portal and invited another to enter. Nightmare for the first time saw the magician's portal, it was strange, twitching or something. But still he entered this unusual teleport._

They appeared in the living room of the Error's rented house. As the demon noted, the rooms and the house itself were not so small, although it could not be compared with his abode. Only the walls and floor in some places were somewhat dirty. The magician referred to the fact that his experiments did not always end successfully, and even more so clean. But as Nightmare had already noticed, Error was very neatnik. So he decided that this dirt was not for long.

Entering the kitchen, the demon immediately smelled chocolate and sweets. His boyfriend was also a sweet tooth. The Lord of Dark senses knew all this very well. To many, the character and even Error itself may seem strange and incompatible, but for Nightmare he was the most amazing creature in the world.

Further Error showed one of his work places. There were some notes and test tubes on the table. It was all of little interest to the demon, but sometimes he looked with displeasure at it...

_"How it is?! Why can't I..." Error shouted indignantly._

_"You just can’t do that. I told you, no." Nightmare answered simply._

_"You, like Dream... forbid exploring the forest."_

_"Right. You must not do this. I... I just don’t want you to get into trouble. You don't know this forest well enough as **we** are. This is a thing you better not poke your curious nose into. Silly you."_

_"Oh... okay."_

The magician knew that Nightmare, like Dream, did not want him to study the magic and energy of the forest. From this, the skeleton was often bored, sitting idle in the city.

For the rest of the time, the lovers talked and played the magician's _strange_ games. It was already evening, and then suddenly Error suggested that Nightmare go to the second floor to his bedroom. Until that time, while in the house of his love, the demon had not visited the magician’s room. The Lord of the Dark senses immediately agreed.

They went up the stairs and entered the room on the right. The bedroom was much smaller than the rest of the rooms. Nightmare sat on the edge of the bed, and Error decided to look at the sunset, so he went to the window and leaned on the windowsill. For some time the demon simply calmly looked around the room, but then he caught sight of the skeleton beloved with all his soul, standing at the window and lit up by the rays of the setting sun. When he saw this lovely sight, some strange feeling poked into the very middle of his heart. Nightmare loved Error, but then he wanted something much more - the soul was beating hard.

The demon immediately jumped up sharply, walked quickly to the magician, hugged his waist and fell to his shoulder. From an unexpected touch from behind, Error flinched, a wave of rapidly twitching clots of energy passed through his body. The magician looked inquiringly at the causative agent of peace.

"I love you, Error." Nightmare whispered.

"Uum... I love you too. But why..."

Further actions were strange and unexpected. The demon abruptly grabbed the skeleton and put him to the bed, and he moved closer and bent over the body, clutching the magician's hands to the blanket. Error was a little scared, and even more frightened by the Nightmare's demonically insane smile then.

"Of course I love you, weirdo. But right now I want you, I want you all." The black skeleton said.

"Uh?"

The demon moved even closer, pressed body under him by his knee and kissed his boyfriend. He was no longer afraid of the magician's “crashes” , since, having spent a lot of time together, the Error's haptophobia to Nightmare’s touch rarely began to react.

"Wizard, is something wrong? Why are you acting like we're not close to each other?" Nightmare said, and his past grin turned into a gentle smile.

"Aah? You... um..." Awareness of the words of his love began to come to Error more and more, why a bluish blush appeared on his face.

"You know. We have been together for a long time." The demon started, and then looked away, a blue-green blush also appeared on his cheekbones. "But we were never **completely** together. And now... I really want this, I want **you**."

"Ukh... for sure?" A blush covered the magician's entire face.

This question was so stupid that Nightmare could not stand it, jumped on Error, pressed him closer to the bed, and passionately kissed. The magician miraculously did not rebooting, although the touch did not affect so much, but stress and great anxiety were still important.

"OF COURSE!" The demon cried out.

"Huh... okay... this is unusual... but I..." Error paused and then cried out: "... WILL BE ALL YOURS!"

After these words Nightmare completely lost control: he began to lick his partner’s neck, kissed him rudely many times, and not only in his mouth, but everywhere. Then he began to take off clothes from Error, but the magician suddenly stopped him, grabbing by the hand.

"Night... I-I need to tell you something... before you... we..." he began to speak nervously.

But Nightmare interrupted his explanations by putting a finger to his mouth:

"Shh... I know. I know that you are immortal rayligh. Or do you consider me a fool?"

"Wha-? No."

"Then do not pay much attention to this. You know that I'm over 1000 years old. **NOTHING IMPORTANT NOW**!"

The Lord of Dark senses pressed closer to the magician and kissed him. From the influx of feelings in both skeletons, souls appeared outside and also snuggled together. Nightmare finally took off the upper part of the clothes of himself and the boyfriend's and threw it somewhere on the bed, and then pulled Error away on the bed and sat on him himself...

~~_(What happened next is secret. I myself don't know. I was not there >.>)_ ~~

It was a passionate night: they hugged, kissed, caressed each other, their souls played "dance" together. It was a great moment for Nightmare in life. He liked Error, everything in him, his body, his soul, his taste... yes... this taste! So simple but superb! _Taste and smell... chocolate and salt_. The demon really liked it, almost intoxicated. Nightmare then did not understand what he was doing, why it was so wonderful, why fate gave him such happiness. The Lord of Dark senses thought it was just some kind of dream, because it was all too good to be true. But he knew that everything was real, because he himself loved him and that of him. But he knew that everything was real, because he loved him and magician him too. Only the demon did not expect that what would happen next would be so frightening that he himself would want all this love to be just a good long dream... until that moment.

The morning was wonderful, the most wonderful in their life. Nightmare woke up first. The first thing he saw was his beloved Error sleeping. The skeleton smiled sleepily and began to stroke the magician on the skull, until his gaze accidentally rushed down, and he saw... Nightmare jumped up, pressed himself against the wall and covered his mouth with his hand. There was a little skeleton that was sleeping. Strange thoughts and feelings flooded the demon. He was clearly not ready for this, love... love... Error that's yes, but not **it**.

“Love” - this word stuck in his head. In fact, Nightmare did not know the meaning of this word and did not want this feeling right now. He felt only the negative, the fierce negative. The Lord of Dark senses did not understand why the reaction was so harsh, but he clearly realized that it was not in his power to restrain it. All the realities of **this** child were literally torn his soul by apart. With each moment, everything became worse and worse, Nightmare tried... but could not - from pain and darkness, he pressed into the wall as he could and cringed. The demon found the only way out of this soul-eating feeling in escape. He caught a glimpse of his clothes, grabbed it and disappeared into the dark, dark, dark gloom of his shadow.

Error woke up because of a strange sound by his standards in his room. He heard a baby cry and fell to the floor in surprise. When the magician got up, rubbing a bruised place, he looked at the bed and saw a child. The skeleton "crashed" for a moment, and when he returned, he screamed. Error did not see his love - Nightmare - nearby, noticed only a brief trace of his leave - a dark spot on the wall. He did not know what happened, and saw only a child, a crying child. The only thing that came to mind was...

"Oh... this is my child with... Nightmare." The black-bone skeleton whispered.

Then he sat back on the bed to think. But each time he was interrupted by the cry of a skele-baby. He endured for a long time, but in such a situation it is completely impossible to think. Error could not stand it and turned to the child.

"What... what's wrong? Why are you crying?" 

In response, only increased crying. The magician thought and decided that the skele-baby might be hungry. But... what do newborn monsters eat, or rather skeletons? He didn’t know for sure, but it only occurred to him: “Oh... if it’s a skeleton, a newborn. So he feeds on the energy of magic! And what magic? Well, it’s clear... his parents! Stop...”. If **he** has to feed him with his magic, he will need to be touched. Error, of course, got used to Nightmare, but... this is not Nightmare, but a newborn child from himself... and Nightmare. It was unsettling... and scary. But the magician kept himself in control.

Error took a deep breath, held out his hands to the skele-baby, tried to grab him normally and pulled him to himself, and then allowed him to take his father's magic. During feeding, the baby’s soul was visible - it was gray and holey in places, holes in the soul moved and changed shape. The magician was a little worried about this form of the soul, but then calmed down, deciding that this could be from a combination of genes, and besides, everyone’s souls are different.

Although Error was still shocked by _this_ , but just one look at the baby brought a lot of joy and pleasure. Only to keep him so far was not in the powers of the magician, and when he was convinced that his son was full, he immediately laid him next. After the transfer of magic, his head was slightly dizzy, but this did not enter into any comparison with headaches after reboots, so Error was not worried about this.

The skeleton needed to think over everything, but in the bedroom this is not convenient, and the child should not be left alone. He jumped up, went to the closet, began to search for something, and then pulled out a basket. Error called on one of his balls and tied the ends of the strings to the basket - what a good carry it turned out. He put the skele-baby in there, and dressed himself.

The magician went downstairs and went to his work room, all this time he was followed by a basket with a child. Error sat down at the table and began to write down something. After all that had happened, the magician realized that he had nothing left to stay in the city: for some reason, the skeleton felt that he would no longer meet with Nightmare, and there would be no possibility to conduct research. Suddenly, Error flinched and looked into the basket - the skele-baby was asleep.

"I... I will need to give you. I'm just... not ready yet and can't. Ah... I'm sorry, dear baby..."

The kid giggled in his sleep, probably he had a good dream. This silliness caused magician smile.

"But... you need a name. Ah... What name would Nightmare like to give you? Sorry, but I don't know. But you cannot be given without a name. And besides, this is somehow wrong."

Error began to walk thoughtfully around the room, and then looked at the child again. His bones were white, only a few ribs and arm bones were black, on the cheekbones were red pointed marks.

"Ah... how difficult it is. Well, what to call you. Hmm... how good would Dream give you a name?" The skeleton frowned thoughtfully. When he remembered the guardian, an idea came to his mind. "Hmm... Dream... Maybe I'll give you the name Djelae?"

In response, the skele-baby smiled, making the blue blush appear on the magician's cheekbones. Again he made his father embarrassed by such amusing behavior.

"Hah... you just can't give me an answer. But I still like that name. And there is. You will be called Djelae. Baby Djelae."

After that, Error’s face became more serious, he couldn’t be happy about it, yes... _couldn’t_... he gives him away, because he himself is not able to look after him. The magician began to collect his things, called his landlord and said that his rent was ending tomorrow. He finished all preparations only in the evening. Only the last thing remained... Error called Dream and made an appointment at the temple.

The guardian was waiting for the magician at the door of the temple. Error came panting and very nervous, his head was wrapped in some kind of cloth, there were a lot of things in his bag, and in his hands he held a basket.

"Error, what happened? Why did you want to meet me so fast? Why are you so loaded with things and what is..." Dream began to ask.

"There is no time." The magician said and held out the basket.

"Um... What is it?"

"Take care of him. He is your nephew and his name is Djelae."

The guardian took the basket and looked inside, what he saw astounded him: there the skele-baby wrapped in a towel lay. Dream wanted to question Error better, but as soon as he looked up, the only thing he saw was a piece of cloth swaying in the wind, disappearing in the portal. The keeper was stunned, turned towards the temple.

"Oh fu-" Dream stopped short and covered his mouth with his palm, and then continued faintly: "Not every day nephews appear."

The skeleton looked at the child again, smiled and headed back to the temple, but stopped right in front of the door. His face showed discontent and disappointment.

"Oh. Error. Nightmare. Guys. So you shoved all the problems on me... Greeeeeeeat."

After he entered the temple. Dream, of course, was glad for his nephew. He was just a little stunned, because... it meant only one thing. So, a son was born from Nightmare and Error, but they themselves do not know how to act. Just a wonderful couple... wonderful... The guardian was also glad because his brother had found happiness for himself. But it was not so simple...

Today two skeletons left the place: the magician went on a long journey, and the demon deepened in the darkness of his feelings.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **~~** Life may be difficult, but the light will always find you. Whoever _you_ are, whoever _your parents_ are, the one _who cares_ about you will always help you. **~~**
> 
> * * *
> 
> Aaaaaa... *slap on the table* I can't. How... How funny it is to describe how Nightmare does not recognize that his behavior is the action of a lover. How funny to describe a Nightmare's declaration of love for Error. I am laughing out loud.


	7. Place in life

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A moment in Djelae's life.

Although Dream liked his nephew, unfortunately, he could not fully take care of him and raise him properly. For two months the guardian somehow tried to be a good parent for Djelae, but his position and duties did not allow him to pay more attention to the baby, Dream did not even always have time to feed him. Then he came up with a not very pleasant idea, but forced - he decided to give the skele-child to a foster family. The guardian chose the best family for him and, despite the risks, told them about the origin of the child. It was a family of monsters. And even after hearing about the terrible secret of the birth of the son of a dark demon, they decided to adopt him. For the happiness of the child, these monsters hid this secret well from society and even from Djelae.

Six years have passed. Nothing was heard of Nightmare and Error. Life in Sunapple went on normally. Dream often visited his nephew, he liked to watch him grow up and enjoy his life. Djelae himself, of course, knew that the guardian was his real uncle. The skele-child learned that he was adopted when he was three years old. Dream insisted on this. The guardian knew that yet his real parents would have to return, and it would be wrong to mislead the child. Djelae found it a little difficult to accept such information, especially at such a young age. He just did not go out for two weeks, but soon the skeleton accepted this fact.

There was a lot of joy in Djelae's life, and there was also sadness. The child did not have much to sink into sadness about, but still there was one moment that often upset him. Many children found him strange and were sometimes afraid. This is what he disliked. His uncle, Dream, wanted Djelae to be more happy, but even he sometimes noticed the fact that some of the children shunned him. But Djelae himself did not raise the topic of the attitude of those around him in front of Dream that sometimes caused confusion among the guardian, since the skeleton often told everything about his life except for this problem.

This lasted until the moment when Jelai was taken to the hospital. It was the most ordinary day: the caregiver took Jelai's group for a walk around the city. They decided to stop at a playground near one of the houses. The children just started playing, and the skeleton decided to draw. Then two girls came up to him and invited him to play one game with them and other kids. Djelae happily agreed, but this joy did not last long. One of the boys objected to the skeleton's participation in their game.

"You are strange and you can't play our game." He explained it this way.

"And what does this have to do with it?" The skeleton became alarmed.

"Because! How can we play with someone who is so weird? We don't know what to expect from you."

"But... I'm not weird!"

"Haha, this is funny. You are very strange. Just look at your behavior. Firstly, you draw strange drawings. Secondly, you know that you have been adopted since the age of three, this is also strange. Thirdly, you are not at all afraid to walk along the outskirts of the village, so close to the forest."

"That doesn't mean I'm weird. Besides, the girls invited me. So I can... play with you."

Djelae tried to stand next to the other children, but the boy began to push him out until he pushed him aside completely. The skeleton was not going to give up, he decided to approach again. But this time the boy used force and hit Djelae, he flew to the side. The caregiver did not notice this, she was busy with the others. The kids from the crowd were worried, because Djelae did not get up after that, and therefore they called the caregiver. The young girl was very worried about this. She took all the children back to kindergarten and took the skeleton to the hospital, and then called Dream.

The guardian, as soon as he heard about what had happened, stopped doing everything and ran to the hospital. He was very excited and wanted to get to Djelae's ward as soon as possible, but he was not allowed - there was still being diagnosed. Dream had to wait, and in the meantime he called his adoptive parents. They came after a while too agitated. The doctors had not yet let them in and left the ward, which worried even more. Yet one doctor came out, and Dream and the monsters foster carer jumped up to him and began to question him nervously. But the doctor reassured them, saying that everything was fine with Djelae, just a slight concussion and bruises of the humeral bones, and he would soon wake up. This was good news. They went in to look at the child after the rest of the doctors had left the room. The parents decided not to wait for his awakening and went home to prepare something good for Djelae. Only Dream was left to wait.

Although the guardian still had things to do, a sense of responsibility did not allow him to leave the skeleton that had not yet awakened. As the doctor said, Djelae was not unconscious for long. The little skeleton woke up, moaning slightly. Dream happily moved closer to him and put his hand to his skull.

"Shh... don't strain." He said softly.

"Un... Uncle Dream?"

"Yes. Do not worry." The guardian smiled, but then the smile faded and the skeleton's voice became more upset. "Although you are awake right now, can you tell me what happened? It is very important."

Instead of answering, Djelae burst into tears, got up and began to hug Dream's hand, smearing tears on that. The guardian was confused. He, of course, expected not a happy reaction, but not such a serious one.

"Uncle Dre-e-a-am, why are they doing this to me?" Djelae spoke through tears.

"What did they do?" Dream asked, still confused.

"Why do they think I'm weird and don't want to be with me? I didn't do anything bad to them. Why are they doing this?"

"Oh... Djelae..." The guardian did not know what to say comforting, but nevertheless continued: "Others can be violent. The truth is that life is not always full of joy, but the main thing is not to get stuck in your sorrows."

"But what is to be done?"

"Try to ignore it. If they think otherwise, then let them. This should not concern you, the main thing is what you think of yourself. It's important to do good deeds. And if someone thinks you are strange, it should not affect your morality. No matter how bad everything around you, you must do good and best for others. You understand? Don't worry about what happened."

"Yeah, uncle Dream."

The guardian moved closer and hugged the skeleton, soothing and gently stroking. He took him home, his parents greeted him very happily, and then put him to bed. Dream finally waved his hand at him and went out the door of the house. As soon as the door was closed, the smile left the guardian's face, and Dream walked slowly towards the temple, thinking about many things along the way. He was very afraid that Djelae would become bad, this could happen if he was too obsessed with the sadness and attitude of others towards him. Dream found himself thinking about the feeling of some kind of déjà vu, the memory of an old and not very beloved moment of his past.

* * *

Today the caregiver took the children to a playground on the outskirts of the village. The weather was good and it would be nice to breathe in the forest air, but since it is forbidden to walk into the forest, it is better to be content with only a beautiful view. The children did what they wanted. And Djelae again sat at the table and drew, several more children were sitting next to him. Two girls nearby were discussing a flower, and the skeleton, being very curious, accidentally overheard this conversation and decided to come closer to find out more. The girls did not mind telling Djelae about the flower from their early conversation at all.

"Do you so want to see those flowers that grow in our forest?" The skeleton became interested after hearing the details.

"Yes. But going into the forest alone, and even for us children, is dangerous. And we are also afraid to go there. But still, we so want to look at them. At least one flower."

"At least one..." Djelae repeated, thinking, and then proudly and bravely exclaimed: "Then I will bring you this flower!"

"Can _you_ do that?" The boy who came up behind chuckled.

They turned towards the person who asked the question. There was the boy who shoved Djelae yesterday. Remembering yesterday's incident, the skeleton frowned.

"Is yesterday not enough for you?" The boy added with a malevolent smile.

"What happened yesterday was yesterday." Djelae said calmly. The mockery did not disturb him. "And I can get this flower!"

"But what can you do? You passed out yesterday from the usual fall, you are so weak."

"I don't care." The skeleton replied without changing his calm tone. "Cowardice and weakness speaks in you. You can't do anything."

Djelae did not wait for an answer or indignation, he got up from the table and walked to the fence. For a moment, the skeleton stopped and looked back. The caregiver did not see him - she was distracted by a child who was accidentally injured. The only thing he was afraid of was disturbing someone. Djelae decided that nothing would happen to him, because he would just quickly take the flowers and that's it. Then the skeleton took a deep breath, climbed over the fence and headed into the forest. The girls and the boy looked after him, doing nothing. And then, nevertheless, the boy felt pangs of conscience and decided to tell the caregiver about this when she stopped taking care of another child. The girl first scolded them for not stopping Djelae, and then called Dream. After the call, a glowing portal appeared nearby, from where the guardian came out. He looked around and with a serious look asked about his nephew. The boy, a little nervous, came closer and, pointing to the forest, told where and why the skeleton had gone. Dream exhaled and walked briskly into the forest in search of Djelae.

Meanwhile, the skeleton was walking along the path. The terrible forest and the local energy did not frighten him at all. He looked for a way to the location of the correct flowers. And how fortunate, Djelae quickly found it. It was a field of luminous blue and white flowers. He happily, almost jumping, walked closer, squatted down and picked two flowers, and then quickly got up and walked back to the playground. But after walking a few meters from the field, the skeleton heard some rustles from behind. This made him a little nervous, but not completely afraid. Djelae decided not to pay attention to this and continue moving, thinking that it could be the movement of flowers from the wind or a bird. Going even further, he still stopped, feeling something large and dark behind. From anxiety and trembling, he accidentally dropped flowers. The skeleton began to slowly turn his head and, only catching a glimpse of the demon creeping even closer, shuddered and looked away from the beast ahead. The whole image of the black creature made Djelae immediately jump up and run away in fear. The demon saw that the victim noticed him and began to run, and immediately rushed headlong after him. He was catching up faster and faster, and the skeleton barely had time not to get caught.

The guardian needed to find his nephew immediately. Dream tried to do it as soon as possible. Although he rarely visited the forest, he knew very well about those flowers. This knowledge helped him easily find the field, and as well as the traces of Djelae's presence. Only something made him even more worried. The guardian noticed someone else's deep footprints and something slightly gleaming ahead. Coming closer, Dream realized that they were flowers from the field, only trampled. A scream was heard, and suddenly something very strongly pricked in the guardian's soul. Then he realized that Djelae was in danger, summoned the bow and immediately dashed towards the direction from which the scream came. What Dream saw made him dumbfounded for a moment. A large demon with many arms and legs, a long toothy mouth, many eyes on its head and a foggy mane all over its body was squeezing a small body. The guardian stopped looking at the creature in amazement and, without wasting time, shot three arrows into the beast's paws, which caused it to drop the skeleton. Djelae was conscious, but very shocked and tired.

While the creature was busy with its wounded paws, Dream stood in front of his nephew and summoned a shield. But the demon easily broke the protection and with a dark breath threw the guardian along with the skeleton forward. It was a very serious attack, but Dream was able to reduce the damage to Djelae. Recovering himself after the blow, he immediately rushed to his nephew to check his condition, but completely forgot about the beast. The creature approached very close, grabbed the guardian's body by the hands and squeezed, and then scratched Dream's bones, spreading its paws to the side. It hurt so much, the guardian could barely contain a groan, but for him only Djelae was important. The kid clung to a tree, worried for himself and his uncle. Dream got up and, breathing heavily, blocked his nephew. Only one idea came to his mind in this situation.

He changed his bow to a staff with a bright star instead of a tip, and at the moment when the many-legged creature was about to strike again, he pierced the demon with a star in the chest. Yellow light spilled cracks over the body of the beast, but the beast itself did not want what the guardian decided to do. It began to resist the light, which led to the worst. The rays of light began to pour out of the cracks in a wave, and in the very middle the light became even brighter and more. Then there was a flash and a large amount of energy in the emission spread in area, from which even the trees tilted. It was all too much, the soul and body of the little skeleton could not stand it, and Djelae lost consciousness.

The skeleton woke up already on the bed, but it was not a hospital ward. He saw a stone wall in front of him, it was a temple wall. Djelae was still tired and did not fully recognize the surroundings, but hearing sobs, he immediately raised himself from the blanket in alarm. Djelae was confused and decided to shake his uncle, but he did not pay attention. The kid became more agitated and, expecting at least some reaction, shouted:

"Uncle Dream!"

"Huh?" The guardian nevertheless came out of a certain trance and looked at his nephew. "Dje... lae? Are you aw-ake?"

"I..." The skeleton started in confusion, but then shook his head and asked: "What happened? Why are you crying?"

"What? You're..." Dream worried, and then burst into tears even more. "I... I killed hiiim..."

"Whom? Stop..." Djelae said. " ... Are you talking about a demon?"

But the guardian did not answer. He began to dart about the room and repeat only the same thing. His behavior looked like hysterics or panic. Djelae did not know what had happened, and his uncle's reaction worried him very much. He had never seen him like this before, so he didn't know what could have led to this. But the kid needed to figure it out, so he kept asking.

"Uncle Dream... what do you mean you killed? Shouldn't you have _'healed'_ him this way... ?"

" **BUT I KILLED HIM!** " Dream, without looking at the skeleton, cried out, but then softened his tone. "'Heal' can kill. If he does not want to be turned into his original form, he begins to resist. He tries to block with his own energy, but this only worsens his situation. Light begins to overwhelm the body and soul to such an extent that both cannot stand. My energy and his energy, when mixed, are released through destruction. And... and... I can kill like that, trying to do good. I... I... I just killed him."

"But... it doesn't matter now. The main thing is that we are alive. And the fact... that he died may be good."

Throughout the conversation, the guardian did not look at the skeleton, but when he said words that were _very painful_ for him, he turned around. His look was intimidating and made Djelae move away from the bed. Dream did not take his eyes off him for a long time, but then he staggered and began to cry more. The kid looked at this dumbfounded, but decided to try to calm his uncle. As soon as he got closer, the guardian jumped up, staggered back, and then leaned back on the blanket and curled up into a ball, all the time repeating "I killed him." This greatly frightened Djelae, he did not know what to expect from Dream in such a state. After a while, the guardian said something else nervously and intermittently through tears:

"I killed him. It is unbearable. It's just unbearable. It hurts. Hurts. It makes my soul burst."

"But I don't understand... it's still good." Djelae still dared to say at least something.

"How can you not understand?! This is not good. Not good. How do you... and besides... you should be ashamed. Why did you go to the forest?!"

"I... I wanted to do a good deed. What you told me yesterday. They wanted to see those flowers, and I decided..."

"This is not a good deed, but reckless!" Dream shouted angrily. "You don't understand at all... You could get hurt or even die! What would have happened then?! It would be bad for everyone! You don't distinguish at all, or what? **What the hell is wrong with you**?!"

Hearing the last question, Djelae shuddered nervously - people around often asked this question. The kid began to remember those situations when this happened. Tears of their own accord flowed from eye sockets. The skeleton hugged himself and pressed himself against the pillow, he wanted to object somehow, to say something, but because of nervousness he could not. Moreover, Dream did not pay attention to his reaction and did not even expect at least some answers or words, and then continued to sob and mutter the same thing, shrinking more and more. Djelae buried himself in his own clothes stronger, it was difficult for him to hide all his sadness and pain. And he could not do this. Under all these anxieties his soul itself summoned out. Feeling this, the kid abruptly looked up in bewilderment at the clot of energy hovering in the air. His soul, so unusual, was beating fast. Then he thought, thought about what he had done, what pain he brought. And a sudden thought cleared up the situation. The skeleton understood - he understood what was the reason for such hysterical behavior of his uncle. He felt ashamed, bad and sad from the fact that he had not previously understood how terrible for a monster like Dream was from committing murders, albeit accidental.

Dream loves everyone and everything, no matter what. And to hurt is... is probably hurts him too. Like Djelae, from the fact that people reject him, keep away from him and offend him. These thoughts made the kid cry again very hard. But he wanted to help - help his uncle. Just like him! Therefore, Djelae found the strength, crawled closer to the guardian and tried to hug him, thereby calm him down. Dream did not even feel this, he was still immersed in self-torture, but soon his obsession passed, and the cry of his nephew was heard. The guardian saw that Jelai's arms were hugging him, and he himself was crying. This surprised Dream, the skeleton still remembered their conversation, but so far not fully delved into its meaning and content, since he was less adequate then that it is now.

"Kid? What... what is it?" The guardian said, raising himself slightly.

"Sorry... sorry... sorry..." Djelae sobbed.

"..." Dream pondered the reason for his nephew's sadness and, it seems, guessed. He did not like this guess, but he did not delve into it and decided to calm the little skeleton by starting to carefully and gently stroke him. "Shh... Djelae... don't cry. I don't blame you. The only one to blame here is me. You shouldn't have seen me... like _this_. I thought that you would wake up a little later, when I have already calmed down. But you woke up earlier... I got nervous. It's just... it's really so hard for me. I want to 'heal', but when they deny it, they die... It hurts to realize that you killed while you wanted to help. Besides, it hurts not only morally, but also physically. Each time it feels like I was torn apart..."

The last words were given to the guardian with difficulty, as, saying this, bad memories arise in the head. But he didn’t want to think about it, so for some time they stayed in silence, which was interrupted by rare sobs. Dream finally came to his senses and realized the full picture of how he hurt his nephew. His words were terrible and disgusting. The guardian didn't like it when someone saw him like that. And unfortunately, this happened. Dream didn't like himself for it every time. But... only in this way he could feel like everyone living. Even in him there is something that can hurt others, and he, as the bearer of the golden apple so hated by him, can feel other feelings.

"It's I... must apologize." Dream said with a heavy sigh.

"Ah? Why?" Djelae was amazed at the uncle's statement, the kid had already calmed down a little.

"I... said very bad words under affect. And... I'm sorry."

"No need to apologize. We are both to blame."

"Oh... kid. Still, you are very good." The guardian smiled softly.

"Of course, I promised. I do my best for you, my parents and everyone around!"

Both skeletons laughed, each happy with this outcome today. Positive emotions made not only Dream feel good, but Djelae as well. Still, if you think about the good, then it becomes good. They sat silently in each other's arms for a while, enjoying a pleasant moment, until Djelae asked a question.

"Uh... Uncle Dream?" The kid started a little hesitantly.

"Yes, Djelae?"

"May I sleep with you?"

" ... Fine. There was a lot of stress today. And your parents won't mind."

Djelae was so happy that he jumped up and threw Dream on the bed. Both laughed at this small ridiculous situation, but were pleased. The day ended well, even if it started badly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **~~** The _return_ of dear ones can be a joyful event, but it can be difficult and not very pleasant. But the most important thing in this is to _love_ each other. And if so, then all the _difficulties do not matter_. **~~**


	8. True father

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The most important event takes place in Djelae's life. But troubles continue to haunt them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ! Warning: a lot of violence !

It was very hot today. Many villagers stayed at home or visited taverns. Although Dream was a skeleton, the heat still affected him: it was hard and unbearable to move around the village. But the guardian had to visit several more places before returning to the temple. But on the way, he suddenly heard screams. This did not pass the attention of the guardian, and without wasting time, he rushed to the place of commotion. But what he saw there made him stand still. The sight ahead of him was damn terrible and disgusting - it was so nasty that any weak character immediately vomited their lunch or breakfast. In the passage between the houses lay the mutilated corpse of a female monster. The person who first noticed this was standing nearby, covering his mouth from the horror that had not yet gone away. The people began to crowd around, many were also in shock. Soon Dream woke up from shock, he looked around - a crowd of passers-by formed around, albeit frightened, but at the same time interested. The guardian decided to end this public gazing. Dream walked through the crowd and stood in front of the one who caused the commotion.

"There is nothing to stare!" He shouted, and then turned to the human behind: "What happened here?"

"Oh? The guardian..." The man, seeing Dream, came to his senses a little. "I was just walking around and decided to turn around the corner here. I accidentally caught my foot on the iron plates. It fell, and then I noticed the corpse of the monster."

"Clear." The guardian said thoughtfully, and then carefully added: "You better go home. Can I help you or yourself?"

"Perhaps I myself. I think it's better for you to stay and figure it out... It seems to me that this is not an _ordinary_ case."

The man sighed and staggered toward his home, making his way through the crowd. Yet some obeyed Dream and went about their business, and the crowd became smaller. The rest were still interested in what happened. But they hardly distracted the guardian. Dream was too deeply lost in his thoughts, and there was little to distract him. He had a guess: who could have done this. Looking at his surroundings, Dream came to the conclusion that his guess was definitely correct, but this only upset. Black spots around and on the wall, the attempt to hide the corpse, the posture of the victim and the cruelty with which this poor woman was killed - all this indicated that he had returned... Nightmare is back again. But his behavior was incomprehensible. It seemed to the guardian that his brother had killed her for a reason, he would not have done so if he returned again. Then it might be...

"Guardian, what could it be?" One of the passers-by, coming a little closer, asked with interest.

"Aah... It's..." Dream was a little confused, since he did not expect to be asked at the moment. But he quickly gathered his thoughts and answered a little abruptly: "I think... this is the work of a demon."

"Demon?!" All of the crowd were worried.

"But nothing to worry about!" The guardian tried to calm them down. I think that this murder is just his statement that he came to this city. It seems to me that this is not so serious. But I'll take care of you anyway. Everything will be good."

The people sighed and was about to disperse, but suddenly a loud exclamation was heard from behind: "How can you think so for sure?". The crowd stepped aside and looked at the one who said it, or rather those, if they can assume that the group that stood there was with him. That man walked forward with his group and stood before the skeleton. At such close proximity, the guardian could see that these were not ordinary passers-by, but hunters.

"Guardian, how can you believe your words are correct?" That man repeated. By all accounts, he was main in the group.

"..." Dream was silent for a long time. He had not expected the hunters to appear in the city at such an inopportune moment. But despite his confusion, he answered: "This is none of your business. I am the guardian here. And I will take care of everything. And the fact that you do not believe is no longer my prob-"

"Still as our business!" The main of the hunters interrupted him. "Even if you and the guardian are here, this does not excuse us from doing our work. You should know this."

"I know it. But you..."

"No objection! I know what is right is best done." The man interrupted Dream again, and then turned to the crowd and said: "To begin with, you should all go home, this does not concern the common people. From now on, you **definitely** have nothing to worry about. Now, we **announce** that the hunt begins in this area."

"Not! Wait... Maybe you can do without it?" The guardian became very worried, and in a fit he grabbed the hunter's hand tightly.

"..." The main hunter in confusion caught his gaze on the hand holding him. And then he looked with surprise and suspicion at the skeleton. "Am I misunderstanding something, guardian?"

Dream also looked at him in surprise and dismay. For a moment they looked at each other. Then the skeleton still let go of the hunter's hand, looked away and walked aside. The main looked at the guardian in surprise for a while, and then pulled his sword out of its scabbard, raised it into the sky, and a beam of light burst out of the weapon in a flash. People had already completely dispersed, the hunters set off in different directions on the orders of the main, and Dream wandered towards the temple. Everything was already bad, and the heat also increased his tension and anxiety even more. Having already approached the building of the temple, he sighed and rested against the wall. The guardian should have told Djelae's adoptive parents about what had happened.

* * *

The little skeleton was sitting in his room and drawing pictures. He was glad of his work and could continue it for a long time, but he suddenly wanted to see mom and dad, so the kid put down his pencil and left the room. Walking down the stairs, Djelae heard that his parents were arguing loudly about something. Because of this, the skeleton was a little worried, but still went down to the end and began to spy on what was happening in the kitchen, hiding behind the edge of the wall. They quarreled, and his mother even cried.

"Why can't we tell him about it?" The female monster spoke through her tears.

"Because it will be bad for him."

"What's bad about it? I don’t understand you. He needs to know. It's just like Dream made us tell Djelae that he was adopted."

"It is not the same. Dream asked to raise him a good monster and take good care of him. He doesn't have to know about **him**."

"But Dream did not say that this should not be done."

"He just didn't mention. And I know for sure that it will be correct. This monster... he must not meet him. Djelae will stay good if he doesn't get involved in it."

"But this is wrong! He must know who his **real father** is! He must meet him!"

When mom said these words - "Real father", the kid's soul beat faster. Djelae could not restrain himself, ran around the corner and shouted:

"A real father?! What does it mean?!"

"Djelae?" Both parents turned around.

"What does "meet" mean? Will I be able to see my... my real... father? Where?!"

"No" The monster father replied very sternly.

"What?" Djelae was greatly surprised and a little upset. "Why? It's... my-"

"I said no, Djelae!" The monster spoke more loudly and angrily. You won't find him anyway... And that is all. There is nothing to discuss and ask. It will be bad for you!"

"I DON'T UNDERSTAND!" The skeleton cried out, he was on the verge - droplets of tears appeared from the eye sockets. "What's wrong with meeting my REAL father?!"

"HE IS THE MOST HORRIBLE MONSTER, THE DARKEST CREATURE IN THE WORLD! YOU SHOULDN'T SEE HIM, HE IS EVIL!" The adult monster voiced in a fit of rage, and then, realizing what had been said, shuddered and looked worriedly at the child.

"What?" Djelae spoke barely audibly, almost in a whisper. Hearing these words, he felt something strange in the depths of his soul.

"Wait... Djelae... This is not what I... That is... you're good, and the fact that your father... It doesn't change you and..."

The little skeleton stood with his head down and was silent. Right now, something was changing in him, in his worldview. Realization of something came to him. This caused great concern among the parents. The monster father decided to somehow soften the situation by hugging his son. But as soon as he tried to touch him, Jelai shuddered, and something sharp wounded the monster's hand. He withdrew his hand, holding the place of the wound - blood was flowing from there. His wife anxiously ran up to them, her husband's condition was important to her and... Djelae's too. The skeleton, clutching his jacket where his soul was pounding furiously behind his ribs, hurriedly ran out into the corridor. His parents ran after him, but could not keep up. When the monsters reached the door threshold, they could only see how the kid was already running down the street. The monster father tried to call out to Djelae, but the skeleton did not respond and was already far away. The parents returned to the house, as they understood that they would no longer be able to catch up with him. This should have been told to Dream, but this was not done.

* * *

Djelae did not look where he was running. He just wanted to get away from it... get away so far... and find his father. The skeleton did not notice that he had already begun to run through the forest. He could run even further, but still stopped - fatigue, and the heat also played a role. The kid leaned against the first tree that came across - he needed to catch his breath. His legs almost did not hold, and soon he was already sitting on the grass. A lot of thoughts swarmed in his head. It haunted. And besides, his soul was beating hard. And the reason for this was not only non-stop running, but also anxiety. If what dad said is true, then he is also evil? Like a real father? Djelae tried to dismiss this thought, because... because the origin does not affect who you are... You define yourself!

Thinking about it, some other idea popped into his head, and the skeleton seemed to like it. Yet this is what he wanted more than anything else. Even if his father is bad, Djelae still wanted to find him. And something in his soul suggested that it was possible - his father was very close, in this forest. The skeleton, without even thinking, went where his inner instinct was leading. He did not know much about the vicinity of the forest, so he could not determine exactly where he was.

Soon, the kid went to a small hill and saw some figure sitting on a separate tree. This stranger looked into the distance and did not even notice the approach of the skeleton. Coming closer, Djelae was able to make out all the outlines of an unfamiliar person. The kid was slightly frightened, as he saw a demon in the monster (as it seemed to him at first glance). But the longer he looked at the stranger, the more something in his soul suggested that this was his father. _Is his father a demon?_ A new thought came to the others which still hadn't left Djelae. But the skeleton was not going to retreat, not now, so after a little reflection, he spoke up:

"Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

"..." The demon did not answer, did not even flinch, did not turn around, and then, nevertheless, even very coldly and indifferently said: "Child, this forest is dangerous. Go home."

"But... it seems to me... that you are my father."

Nightmare was alarmed, although it was not noticeable. But he was still silent. The silence lasted for a long time that the skeleton was already getting nervous and worried. But then the demon nevertheless turned over to Djelae. Their gazes met, and the kid was a little scared - no, Nightmare did not look at him scary, just his gaze was very serious, which made Djelae not know what to expect.

"Why do you think so?" The demon spoke still calmly, but more seriously.

"Ah... me... I can feel it in my soul."

"Huh?" Nightmare raised an inquiring eyebrow. He did not like this answer at all, since it was not logical. And, of course, this made him more and more angry. "Are you playing with me or what? I am the greatest dark demon! Lord of Dark senses! You better not joke with me! And get out of here, while I give you a chance... I am not in the mood for you right now."

" **But my feelings cannot deceive me!** " The skeleton shouted with all his might.

Such insolence struck Nightmare and even slightly angered him, but he really was not in the mood to deal with it and even murder. He jumped off the branch almost next to Djelae, which made him recoil tensely. The demon bent down and looked at the kid. Something in his appearance resembled someone, someone dear to the heart. The soul trembled - something was recalled. Suddenly, something drew him to the skeleton. Nightmare didn't like it at all.

These examinations and inner reflections could continue for a long time, but suddenly someone rustled from behind and shouted. Both monsters turned and saw the hunters approaching. They did not have time to come to their senses or to react somehow, as three hunters were already standing in front of them. The newcomers didn't look very friendly. And there was obviously a logical reason for that.

"It's a demon!" One of the hunter monsters yelled out.

"I'm pretty sure it's the one who killed that unfortunate woman!" The main hunter stated.

"Look, there is a child!" The third one noticed. "He's probably going to kill him now!"

The hunters prepared their weapons and began to approach them. Nightmare was not at all frightened by this, he did not even move from his place, remaining standing and looking at this performance indifferently. But approaching a little closer, the main stopped, feeling that something was amiss. He stared at the child and narrowed his eyes.

"No... it's not that! That child is also a demon!" The hunter exclaimed and pointed to the skeleton. His gaze became more cunning and gloating. "Oh... how lucky. We will kill brat while it is still young!"

None of the hunters were bothered by this, only Nightmare was surprised. He glanced at Djelae — he was a little scared of the approaching danger — and then back at the hunters. The demon did not know what prompted him to take the next action. He quickly grabbed the skeleton and ran away. This did not confuse the hunters, and they rushed after them. But unfortunately for the pursuers, Nightmare ran very quickly and was able to break away. After making sure that they could hide from the hunters, he stopped and put the child on the ground.

"Look, I don't know who you are. And why they thought you were a demon. Perhaps, either I just do not feel... or your power is just low. It doesn't matter... Ah..." Nightmare said after catching his breath a little. His gaze grew more serious and his voice more irritated. "But I'll help you. We will hide from them, and then you go home. Until then... follow me."

"Fine." The kid nodded.

After that, the demon moved from his place and went into the depths of the thickets, and little Djelae followed him. They walked slowly and calmly, because they had not yet heard the hunters. And Nightmare was also a little tired of such a "run". Everything was fine, but on the way the skeleton, without even noticing himself, took his father's hand. But for Nightmare this action seemed to be the limit of impudence, and he growled menacingly at the kid, and Djelae only slightly shuddered, but did not let go.

"Hey... let's go without it. Or I'll change my mind." Nightmare hissed indignantly.

"Sorry, dad."

The Lord of the Dark senses nevertheless got angry, shook off a small hand and strongly shoved the kid away from him. He even almost fell off his feet, but still resisted. There was no time to stop and apologize, so after a few chugs from the demon's side, they continued on their way. Going further, Nightmare stopped at one tree and began to look around for the lack of pursuit and search for a suitable place to hide. While he was busy, Djelae sat down on the ground and began to draw with his finger on the mud. The demon sometimes casually glanced at the kid's actions with a skeptical expression, but no matter how strange it was, he admitted - it was amusing.

"Hey! There is no need to sit here! We're not safe yet. Come here!" Nightmare called the skeleton, trying to sound as rude and serious as possible.

"Oh? Okay!"

Djelae stood up cheerfully and walked closer to him. Surely there was no time to rest until they were completely sure of it. Nightmare, making sure that the child was next to him, was about to move on, but suddenly a sword like a trident flew out from behind the bushes. Both skeletons did not have time to react. The weapon flew into Djelae and pinned him by his clothes to a tree, also hitting a little cheekbone, neck vertebrae and bones behind the tissue. From shock and fear, the skeleton lost consciousness, and his body hung, holding only on the tips of the trident. Nightmare looked at the helpless child, and some kind of piercing feeling in his soul made him shiver. Just at the same moment, a hunter, who was striking, jumped out from behind the vegetation, and shouted in annoyance:

"Eh! I missed!"

" **What are you doing?!** " The demon, unable to bear it, growled loudly.

"Shut up, beast." The main spoke haughtily, coming up next from behind the tree.

" **He's still a _KID_! How can you kill him?!**" Nightmare continued, ignoring the tone with which the hunter addressed him.

"Who cares what it looks like. He remains a demon, no matter how old he is. And our task is to free this world from such brat as you and him."

" **I still don't get it. How can you hurt what looks like an ordinary child so easily? Especially so vile.** "

"Huh. Demon, does he bother you that much? It doesn't matter to me though. I kill evil and darkness. I kill demons!"

With every word from the hunter's side, a some strange feeling in Nightmare's soul began to rage more - it seemed that now the soul itself would burst from the influx of so much negativity and fury. He himself did not understand how he was still holding back. But what happened next caused the Lord of Dark senses to lose all control and awareness of his actions. The main hunter quickly and confidently drew his sword from its scabbard and threw it directly into the middle of the skeleton's body. But Nightmare at the last moment managed to grab the weapon by the blade, and this only touched the child with the tip. He gripped the sword in his hand in a gust, causing his demonic blood to flow out. Nightmare for a long time looked spatially at the ill-fated weapon, while the hunter was surrounded from all sides and prepared for an attack. Then it became the last straw of his patience. The feeling that was raging inside was brought out: his dark aura quickly and densely surrounded everything around. Nightmare clenched his fist harder, and the sword shattered into tiny pieces like a twig.

The hunters were alert. The further actions of the demon were now unknown. He did not move yet, only the surrounding darkness became stronger and thicker, which made almost nothing to be seen. The demon perked up, and the attackers had only a moment to understand what had happened. A large tentacle suddenly emerged from the ground, it grabbed the monster that released the trident, took him into the air and several times beat off the ground, then from the trees. Then Nightmare looked strange, not at all like himself: there was no crazy smile with laughter, as well as a predatory grin, there was no smile on his face at all. He stood quietly, only in his gaze could be seen silent rage and even hatred, it seemed his feelings were then excessive.

Other hunters were very scared - they were afraid not only for themselves, but also for the state of their comrade, since visibility was poor due to the black fog. It was even more alarming when the groans of that hunter were heard in the air - the tentacle began to squeeze harder, crushing all the organs, and then... another one simply cut off the monster's head. Even more dark "worms" crept out and began, wriggling, attacking in a random direction. The third monster-hunter got scared, took out a bow and began to shoot at the demon, but in the process either hit the tentacles or missed. Nightmare jerked terribly in his direction, and then threw him forward with his ability.

He finally moved from his place, where until that moment he was still standing, and went to the tree where Djelae lay. The Lord of the Dark senses began to pull out the trident, it took him some time for this - the weapon was strongly nailed to the trunk. During this time, the monster-hunter managed to recover slightly after the blow, and the main hunter - to create a new sword. The main rushed to the demon to strike. At the same moment, Nightmare had just pulled out a trident, but did not have time to reflect and even more so to notice the attack. The blade of the sword went down the back, but the result was unexpected - the weapon did not wound the demon, but got stuck in a kind of black liquid. The hunter tried to draw the sword, but it did not work. But it probably angered Nightmare more. Although... in such a state it was incomprehensible whether he was angry or not, he was simply overwhelmed, why it did not affect his expression in any way. The demon in the same position turned to face the attacker - they met with gazes, which made the man dumbfounded in fear. Nightmare threw back the main hunter, and the sword stuck in his back pulled out and broke like the last one.

The human did not suffer much from this, but he could not get up yet and all that was left was to observe the approaching demonic figure. And Nightmare approached him painfully slowly, tightly gripping the trident in his hands. It was scary. When the demon reached his goal, he looked long and terrifyingly directly into the soul of the hunter through his eyes, and then directed the weapon at him and quickly pierced him into the chest, the main did not even have time to scream. The last hunter remained from the group. He was nearby and, frightened by this, put the sword in front of himself, his hands trembling. Nightmare darted towards him so quickly that the monster dropped the weapon. The demon leaned over him, and pieces of mucus began to drip from his face, falling on the hunter.

"You are still alive only because there are those who love you very much and are waiting for you." He hissed dully, and then stood up straight.

The monster swallowed saliva, jumped up and nervously backed away, and then turned around and ran away with all his might. Nightmare looked after the fleeing hunter and turned away only when he was completely out of sight. Those who were dangerous disappeared. So what now? What should happen next? Nightmare's condition was still unstable, and things seem to be getting worse. His soul was still filled with negative feelings, but there was no more reason for aggression. And this meant that the Lord of the Dark senses could be completely insane or simply lose consciousness and the strength to stand. And now the moment has come when the limits are very close. Nightmare staggered back and, clutching his head and clutching the fabric of his clothes on his chest, howled loudly, barely holding on. Aching headache, dizziness and painful throbbing in the bones all over the body suddenly came on. But the suffering did not end there yet: a black liquid burst out of his mouth and flowed down the grass at his feet like a river, and in the process it was difficult to exhale. When the attack ended, Nightmare sharply darted his gaze to Djelae and walked to the tree, barely shifting from foot to foot and breathing heavily. He bent down, leaning the elbow of his left hand on the trunk, and, slipping slightly down, with the palm of his right hand touched the cheek of the skeleton.

* * *

Nightmare was not going to pretend or hide, so he just walked around the city with everyone's eyes and carried a child in his arms. He was heading to the temple, behind him on the way was a train of black liquid, which flowed abundantly all over his body and clothes. Approaching the temple, the demon opened the door. And how lucky he was - Dream was just in the main hall and immediately turned to the sound of the open door, and then was dumbfounded when a monster appeared in front of him, in which it was difficult to recognize his own brother because of the mucus covering the entire figure.

"Nightmare?" The guardian spoke perplexedly through a long moment of silence and awareness.

"H-e-l-p..." The only thing Nightmare could barely say. His breathing was very shaky, and the last thing he did was held out the skeleton that was in his hands to Dream.

As soon as the guardian took Djelae, his brother immediately collapsed unconsciously down. The black liquid began to spread in large quantities over the stone slab of the floor. Dream was too shocked and confused to understand what had happened, but it was something that he knew for sure. Help was needed not only for the kid, but also for Nightmare.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **~~** _Time_ heals. But there is something that will have to be healed with _difficulty_. **~~**
> 
> * * *
> 
> Sorry it hasn't been updated for so long. And also sorry you missed and didn't enjoy three more chapters (because they already came out in original language fanfic)


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